Swords of the Eternals: Loveless
by Snow Tempest
Summary: After being forced into another contract with the Singing Sisters, Seth has to find a way to meet his end of the deal. Kendra, on the other hand, busies herself with the competition to become an Eternal. But will Gavin's return be a distraction? And what of Bracken and his mysterious connection to a girl named Adalyn? (Rating may change)
1. Chapter 1

Kendra looked across at the bed in the attic room that used to be her brothers. It was empty now, the sheets hadn't been changed in a while, but they were still fresh without wrinkles. She rolled over onto her side and hugged her pillow. She missed Seth, even though he could be annoying sometimes.

She hardly ever saw him anymore, and when she did, he almost never spoke to her. Whatever had happened when he had gone to see the Singing Sisters had broken something inside of him. They all had tried to reach out to him, but he had pushed everyone away.

He had Hugo fix the tree house so he could live in it. It now had insulation, a little heater, and a bed in it. As soon as his work was done, he moved out of the playroom unexpectedly and began living outside.

Kendra's mother cried when she first saw her son come home shell-shaken and a dead look in his eyes. And he had cried too, which surprised and shocked everyone. Their father had tried to make him laugh, but he ended up getting punched.

They had tried all they could, but whatever had transpired at the river had changed him completely. All Warren and Vanessa had said was that he had talked to the Singing Sisters, escaped as the island sunk, ran to save the ferryman, but found him dead. It didn't make sense to her why he would have shut himself away.

She sighed and rolled off the bed, getting off the floor and waling to the door. She looked both ways down the hallway after going down the stairs, checking for family members. Then she went down into the dungeon, lead by her night-vision through the dark.

She dodged the goblin patrol and the light from the torches and finally came upon what she came for; the quiet box. She sat down on the floor next to the box and whispered, "Hey,"

She felt like Gavin could hear her, even though she knew he couldn't. Talking to the box calmed her, though. It had helped get her through the stress of her brother leaving, and even more recently, death threats through the mail.

"Bracken is coming over tomorrow." She said, hugging her knees to her chest. That wasn't news to her; Bracken had started coming to check up on the family every other week when he had time off from re-establishing connections of different specie within the Fairy Queen's domain.

"I think he might be ignoring me…" She continued, "All he does when he comes over is making sure I'm not dead! On the other hand, he sits outside of Seth's door for hours, talking."

Kendra stood up angrily and began pacing, "You know, I don't know what his deal is. He said he lo-"

She quieted and looked down at the ground in shock, "He, he never once said he loved me… did he?" She sung around to face the coffin and shouted, "Not once!"

She felt hot tears fall, and she turned back to face the corridor, sniffling and rubbing her face with her pajama sleeve.

Then she saw a dumbfounded Bracken standing in front of her, mouth wide open.

"Kendra-" He started, reaching to touch her arm. She backed off quickly,

"How long have you been standing there? How long?!" She cried, feeling betrayed and beyond upset.

He took a cautious step forward and reached a tentative hand out, "Just a few seconds, Kendra. I'm sorry, I had no idea you felt that way."

"No idea?" She laughed bitterly, crossing her arms. "You really didn't know I like you?"

Bracken shook his head, "Kendra, all you had to do was ask, I would have told you that I love you." He got close enough and wrapped his arms around her, "Kendra, I love you."

The last of her tears gone, she looked up at him and pleaded with her eyes, "Then kiss me,"

Bracken seemed at a loss for words, but then he slowly let her go. Kendra felt the tears coming again and shut her eyes tightly; she wouldn't let him see her cry anymore. But then she felt his hand on her cheek, his gentle breath on her face. Her eyes shot open and she disbelievingly watched as his lips came closer to hers. His eyes were closed, but his eyelashes were fluttering, as if he were scared.

Her heart pounded, and she felt so nervous that she might faint. But then he opened his eyes and withdrew. His hands were shaking back at their sides as he looked away,

"I can't."

Kendra opened her eyes and her cheeks reddened slightly, "Why not?" She choked and backed away, cursing herself for being such a fool. "It's because you like Seth more than me, isn't it?"

"I can't explain, it's different with Seth." He said panic edging on his voice.

"Oh, it's _different_." She said sarcastically, "You can be such great friends with him, why can't you have feelings for me?!" She tried to push past Bracken and go back up the stairs, but he grabbed her arms and forced her to look him in the eye.

"Listen, I don't have special feelings for Seth. You and Seth are both very important to me."

She glared and him and jerked her arms away, "Then why do you only talk to him anymore?"

Bracken remained silent as she walked past him. She heatedly continued going until she heard the strained and sad whisper of, "He hasn't talked to me in four months…"

She paused for a second, then continued walking.


	2. Chapter 2

Seth sat in the tree house regarding the long, dark spiral in his hand. The second term of the contract required that he find a way to purify the horn. He didn't know where to start, but now, four months later, he felt like he could talk to Bracken about it.

He had shut himself away from his family because he didn't want anyone to get killed because he loved them. The contract also stated that whomever he loved most would die from the same knife that would've killed him.

He had felt terrible the day he had to face his parents. He had broken down crying, then had ended up screaming at he hated them. Then he left the house and moved into the tree house. He had stopped coming to meals, so they started leaving his lunches and dinners in lunch bags outside of his door.

Seth cracked open his door and looked outside; he saw another lunch bag left on the door mat that Seth's dad had made him, it read, 'You are not welcome here'. On it also sat a few shiny pebbles that the Satyrs had left him.

He scooped up the stones and grabbed the lunchbox, thinking again what a terrible friend he was to suddenly stop talking to Newel and Doren. Hey still left him little tributes to let him know they were still thinking of him. He placed the colorful pebbles into a box that he kept all the stuff they had given him in.

His only company was Mi'aiq, who he had already tried to push away, but the cat would have none of it. Mi'aiq stayed by the boy's side every day, and Seth was grateful for the company.

Seth checked his calendar on the wall and noticed it was marked as a day Bracken would visit. Bracken always came by once every other week to sit outside his house and talk to him in a soothing voice. It made Seth feel horrible and guilty that he was holing himself up away from Bracken, who was obviously trying so hard to get him outside.

He sighed and picked the horn back up and tested its weight in his hand, thinking. Bracken would most likely know how to purify the horn; he was a unicorn, after all. And there was no better time to do it than visiting hours.

Seth cracked the door open and cautiously stepped outside; he scanned the yard for signs of activity and saw Bracken sitting on the grass, his head in his hands. Fairies crowded around him, fawning and lamenting over how downtrodden he looked.

Seth climbed down the ladder and walked over to where he sat. The fairies noticed his presence first and twittered amongst themselves and clingingly hovered closer to Bracken.

"Hey, Bracken."

Bracken looked up, his eyes widening in hope that Seth would say something to him; anything. He wanted to be needed. The fairies glared at Seth in jealousy and pouted, caressing Bracken's face.

"The dark horn… Is it possible to purify it?" Seth mumbled, still looking down at the ground. Bracken stood up and reached for the horn in Seth's hand, Seth moved back, "I don't want you to get hurt."

Bracken smiled at his concern but reached forward anyway and tried to take the horn, "I appreciate it, but the initial darkness that had poisoned me before has lost its affect on me."

Seth backed off a bit more and frowned in concern, looking at Bracken, "Just to be safe."

Bracken agreed and put a hand on Seth's shoulder, "Just to be safe, then."

Seth flinched away from Bracken's gentle hand, which recoiled slowly, as if not quite believing that Seth had rejected him as Kendra had just hours before. "Don't try to get close to me, okay?"

Bracken looked deflated for a second, and Seth felt a pang of regret, but then Bracken looked back up at him with his calm smile. "So, you didn't give the horn to the Singing Sisters. They wanted you to purify it."

Seth nodded and shrugged, "Something along those lines."

Bracken grimaced, "We may have to ask Navarog, things that are _impure_ are not in my category of expertise."

He and Seth walked to the basement dungeon and went down the stairs. They made their way over to the quiet box and stopped. They realized when they stopped that they didn't have an extra person to put in the quiet box.

Bracken looked uncertain, shifting his eyes to Seth and back to the coffin, "I would go, but I don't want to leave you alone with him."

"Hey, where did Kendra's sting-bulb go? Wasn't she in the box?"

"She died." Bracken said, cutting off any further conversation on the subject. He then stepped up to the coffin and opened it, "I'll go in." He turned back to look at Seth seriously, "If anything happens, kill him." He climbed into the box and shut it, leaving Seth no time to argue. Seth went over to the quiet box and opened the door again; Gavin opened his eyes and stepped down, stretching.

"Come to have a chat?" Navarog chuckled, crossing his arms and smirking at the young shadow charmer, taking in the boy's serious demeanor and gaze. "Maybe you have smoothing darker on your mind… so spill." Gavin leaned back against a column and studied Seth.

Seth took the dark horn out from his bag and said, "The Singing Sisters asked me to purify this, so you know how?"

"The Singing Sisters asked you to do that?" He whistled in appreciation then sobered. "It's not possible. SO you may as well just give…up…" The shadows around Gavin had started to flicker, and the souls in the most dangerous section of the dungeon began to howl.

Navarog sensed the source of power was, indeed, the boy. He assessed Seth's power once more, and noted with amusement that it had grown in strength since the last time he had been with Seth.

"Out of respect for your potential as a shadow charmer…" Gavin began, relaxing the tension between his shoulders as the sounds of the howls ceased. "I will look into possibilities for you."

Seth glared harshly at the demon, "Do I have your word?"

Navarog laughed loudly and grinned maliciously at Seth, "A demon's word means nothing! You should know better by-"

"Then I'll kill Kendra." Seth hissed, his fists clenching.

All mirth vanished from Navarog's features in an instant, his muscles tensed again, "You wouldn't-"

"I wouldn't have to." Seth said coldly, knowing that he had struck a nerve with the dragon, "You see, there is a curse..."


	3. Chapter 3

Kendra shifted uncomfortably in her chair as the tension in the room rose to another degree. Seth had returned to the house, but he explained briefly that he would not be staying for long. Hey had switched Bracken with Warren, who volunteered to stay inside the quiet box for the time being.

Now they had Gavin on the phone in the study, being monitored by everyone. Bracken was glaring at him the hardest, waiting for the demon prince to make the wrong move. Kendra felt her frown directed at Bracken, and her eyes involuntarily followed his around the room. Eventually she forced herself to look away when she felt a stare boring into the back of her head.

She turned around and saw Seth skulking in the shadows of the room, leaning back on the wall and looking at her with dark eyes. Mi'aiq appeared next to him and rubbed up against Seth's leg. She watched this and wondered if she would ever get an animal companion, or even if she wanted one so she could become an eternal anymore.

Gavin finally hung up and turned to them all, "I have some good news… and some bad news."

Seth crossed his arms and said, "Yeah?"

Gavin nodded, "I knew that the Dark horn would spoil the Fairy Queen's kingdom, but it would purify the horn, so I knew that wasn't an option." He glanced over at Bracken, who raised his eyebrows at Navarog's statement.

"And how would you know that?"

Gavin grinned and shrugged, "It was a backup plan the Dark Night had once."

Grandpa Sorenson leaned forward, "You are sharing with us very sensitive information. How do we know that you are not lying to us?"

Gavin looked like he was about to say something snarky in return, but something caught his eye from the shadows of the room that made him stop and pale. His eyes flicked over to Kendra and he became more subdued.

Kendra looked back over her shoulder at Seth; her brother was leaning against the wall like before, but now he held in his hand a dagger with a wavy blade. He was tossing it nonchalantly in his hand and staring daggers, quite literally, at Gavin.

"But what is your motivation to help us?" Grandpas Sorenson questioned, looking suspicious of Navarog's claims once again.

Gavin shrugged and he moved his eyes off Kendra, "I have more to lose than you if this doesn't work out for Seth."

Bracken moved forward, looking like he wanted to punch the dragon in the face, "Does it have anything to do with Kendra? I don't want her involved."

"Admirable words from someone who dumped her!" Gavin retorted and scowled right back at the unicorn.

Kendra felt a pang of hurt when he said that, and her heart throbbed again.

Bracken grabbed Gavin's shirt and growled, "Hey, listen-"

"I don't want Kendra involved either! It's Seth making it about her!"

Everyone's eyes turned to Seth, who had been studying his reflection in the knife. He lazily lowers his gaze to his family and sighed, flipping his knife again and taking a step closer to Kendra. He smoothly put his arm around her shoulder and grinned viciously. Kendra felt the cool metal of the blade through her shirt as he dangled the knife closer then she would have liked to her chest.

"Hey, sister dearest. How about I give you a hug? It's been ages…" He said slowly, pulling Kendra into an uncomfortable hug, she shivered and realized that something about this hug scared her. Suddenly he turned her around and pressed the knife against her throat, "All of you cooperate or she dies."

Everyone staggered backwards from the shock. Kendra's parents exclaimed, "Seth! She's your sister!"

The grandparents stood up and tried to get Seth away from her, but he laughed darkly and jumped out of the way as agilely as a cat, spinning around gracefully and holding the knife to his lips with a smile.

Gavin shouted out from across the room, "You promised me you wouldn't hurt her if I held up my part of the bargain! I will help you Seth Sorenson! So…" He looked down at Kendra, as their eyes met she felt her heart skip a beat, "Don't hurt her."

With her parents and grandparents crowding around her like a shield, she didn't see Seth as he disappeared into the shadows.

"You can keep me in chains, watch my every move, but I beg that you let me watch Kendra and keep her safe." Gavin said, making eye contact with Kendra, but while speaking to everyone in the room.

Kendra's mother numbly nodded and began crying, "Anything to keep our little girl safe."

Bracken still had his eyes on the shadows, feeling hurt beyond words that Seth had done something like that. Kendra looked over at Bracken and saw his usually clear, blue eyes mist over into a dull grey.

She looked away and once again felt her heart shatter for the second time that day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much to those who sent me kind words and encouragement, it really helped me get through things. So, here you are, the fourth chapter of Loveless. I'm sorry it took so long. The next chapter I hope will be up in a few days or less... so fingers crossed! Thanks again. -Snow T. **

Seth sat back in his tree house holding his head in his hands, crying. He hadn't wanted to do any of that, he wanted to stop pretending that he wanted to kill Kendra, but how else would he save them? He sat with his back to the wall and stared at the door numbly.

A bang came from the door someone knocked on it hurriedly, "Seth, open the door!" Seth heard Bracken shout through the wood.

"Go away." Seth grumbled and put his head on his knees.

The door slammed open and Bracken barged in, stopping at where Seth sat and bending over. "Why are you doing this?"

Seth stood up and brushed past him, "I-I don't need to justify my actions!" He sputtered, still upset and wiping tears from his eyes.

Bracken grabbed Seth's wrist and pulled him forward, "Then why? Why did you act that way?"

"I had no choice!" Seth growled and pulled back, unsuccessfully attempting to free himself.

Then Bracken leaned forward and kissed him. Everything suddenly turned to shadow as Seth's eyes closed, but it wasn't a cold, lonely feeling; it was warm. They parted, and Bracken met with Seth's eyes, they were dark.

Seth pushed him away, "I hate you."

Bracken choked in disbelief, he had hoped that, if anything, that would make Seth see his true feelings, and maybe believe that he wasn't alone.

"Why did you do that?" Seth muttered, taking a step back.

Bracken looked up at Seth once more, "It's because I-"

"Say no more." Seth cut in sharply, "I don't need that. All I need is the horn purified." He turned away and mumbled, "So I have an ace up my sleeve for when I see them again…"

Bracken tried to establish eye-contact with Seth again, "With who?"

Seth stormed out of the tree house and shouted over his shoulder, "None of your damn business!" he jumped out of the tree house and hit the ground in dead run. As he sprinted as far as he could into the woods, a new flood of tears came and drowned out all his thoughts.

He fell down in the flowery grove where the old church used to be. He sat with his back against a tree and choked all the sadness down. He heard a rustle in the bushes, but his mind didn't register until Kendra came out of the foliage, when they saw each other, their eyes widened.

"Seth!" Kendra exclaimed, knelling down and hugging her brother, "I'm sorry." Seth sat there numbly for a minute before he hugged her back as tightly as he could.

"For what?" He croaked sourly, his nose sounding a bit stuffed up because of the tears.

Kendra shrugged, still hugging him, "I don't know, maybe it was something I did…"

"It was never your fault, Kendra." He reassured his sister, sniffling into her shoulder.

"Then maybe you can tell Grandpa Sorenson what's wrong."

Seth shoved her away and shot to his feet, "Grandpa Sorenson doesn't know anything about this!" The shadows of the trees twisted out and in on itself, pulsing like something alive.

Kendra crawled backwards on her elbows on the ground, a little intimidated by Seth's shadow manipulation. "Seth, stop it; you're scaring me." She pleaded.

"How can I?! _It scares me too_." His words were icy cold and his face no longer had tracks of tears on them.

The knife in Seth's makeshift sheath stopped shaking. He calmed down a little as the dagger seemed satisfied with his coldness towards his sister. The shadows gradually returned to normal and settled into their rightful places until Gavin came into the grove, being led by Bracken.

The four stared at each other for a split second before Gavin leapt in front of Kendra and transformed into a huge, black dragon. Bracken went to Seth and checked if Seth had the ring her had gave him on. He didn't.

"Seth, your ring, where is it?" Bracken asked franticly, "This is getting out of hand."

Navarog growled and crouched, sending Seth a steely glare. Kendra protested from underneath the dragon with muffled shouts.

Gavin transformed back into his human form and looked behind him, "You alright?"

"Fine." Kendra said, getting to her feet and coming to stand between Seth and Gavin, "You both," She shot a look at Bracken, "Will leave my brother alone."

Bracken and Gavin both took a step back and watched as Kendra turned around and looked up into Seth's eyes. "You're sure you don't need help."

He put his hands in his pockets and hunched his back, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well, if you say so…" She turned around and glared at the two older boys, "And what made you think that I was in danger? He's my_ brother_."

Bracken looked down at the ground and shrugged, Gavin looked like he wanted to say something but when he opened his mouth, Kendra held up a finger and stopped him.

"Not a word."

"But-"

"No."

"Actually-"

"Ah."

"Can I just-" Gavin protested.

Kendra put a finger to his lips, "Shhhhhhhhhhh" She shushed him as she pushed him backwards using only her finger. She marched him all the way into a tree, which he promptly knocked his head against.

"Watch out, Bossy Kendra has appeared." Seth muttered. Bracken chuckled quietly but Kendra heard the whole exchange.

She came over and punched them both lightly on the head and forced them to sit down. "So, what' up? Any progress?"

Gavin sat down and sighed heavily, "Well, there's the good news, and the bad news…." He raised an eyebrow, "Which do you want to hear first?"

"The bad news." Both Seth and Bracken chorused.

Gavin nodded, "Very well," He crossed his arms and frowned, "My mother dearest has put a bounty on Kendra's head, There's a bounty on our heads as well, Bracken." Bracken nodded as he had expected as much. "And," Gavin continued, "She has already selected a few top members to retrieve us if the bounty catchers fail." He grimaced, "I would not want to go up against them. I would rather take my chances with the thugs."

Bracken leaned forward, "Kendra and I are wanted because of our connection to the Fairy Queen. But why you?"

Navarog looked sheepish, "She probably doesn't want to kill me, it's your necks you should be worried about."

Kendra looked over to her brother, "What about Seth?"

Gavin shrugged, "My mother doesn't appear too interested in him, thankfully enough." His eyes turned back to Kendra, "I heard from my contact that you killed father, good job." He reached over and patted her head.

"I killed your father?! When?"

"The demon king was my father." Gavin sated as if obvious.

Bracken nodded, "He's half dragon, half demon. It explains why he is repulsive."

"Look who's calling who repulsive, horse-man!" Gavin retorted. "Horse crap smells!"

"Oh yeah? Well, dragon shit is way bigger!"

"I'm still way more handsome than you."

"Not true!"

"Guys." Seth said, "I know who the prettiest is."

They all turned to him and asked, "Who?"

"Me."

There was silence for a few solid seconds, but Seth's blank expression never changed, his eyes appeared to be just a dull as if he had said something totally normal.

"I was kidding, guys. It was a joke. Haha." He laughed dryly, rolling his eyes at his own joke.

They all burst out laughing and Kendra and Bracken wrapped their arms around Seth simultaneously and squeezed.

"That was the first joke I've heard from you in…" Kendra gasped, "In a long time."

Seth nodded, "I try, obviously." He nudged Bracken away with his elbow, but let Kendra hug him for a little while longer, until he felt the tremble of the cursed dagger in it sheath, then he nudged her away as well.

"So, the good news?" Gavin started, going back to their previous conversation. They all nodded and listened. Gavin grinned and gave them all a thumbs up, "The horn might be able to be purified, but it will end up destroying the object that purifies it, obviously. So…" He bit his lip in gleeful anticipation. They all waited as he continued to hold on.

Seth figured he'd want some sort of reaction. "Oh, the suspense is killing us." He said mildly, falling over on the ground he robotically stated the next words, "See, I die. Oh, the pain of not knowing."

"Two jokes one day, he's making progress." Bracken chuckled, tousling Seth's hair. Seth swatted his hand away and hissed like a cat.

Gavin continued, "The object in question is, in fact…" He held again, motioning for his audience to begin guessing.

"It's a toilet, isn't it?" Seth sardonically sighed, setting hi head on his folded hands beneath his chin.

Gavin shook his finger, "Not a toilet, sorry. Guess number two! Do we have a try from Mr. Unicorn?"

Bracken immediately said, "It isn't the Fairy Queen's kingdom, is it?"

"Wrong again!" Gavin exclaimed, bringing both his arms to a cross shape over his chest. "Your turn, Kendra!"

Seth watched his sister think, she fingered her hair as she rubbed her lips together. Her mouth then brought back the memory of the kiss Bracken had just given Seth just a half hour ago. He had almost completely forgotten about it!

Bracken was watching Kendra, but his hand rested very close to where Seth's hand was. He could just reach out and… Seth yanked Bracken's support hand out from under him. Bracken fell backwards and knocked his head on a tree trunk.

Bracken sat back up, rubbing his head, "Hey, what's the big idea?" He grumbled, shooting a look at Seth.

Seth began snickering, then laughing, at Bracken's slightly annoyed face, then his confused expression when Seth began laughing. Seth felt better after being able to see Bracken ruffled expression, mild as it was, it reminded Seth that even non-human creatures still had feelings.

Kendra looked between her brother and Bracken, "Did you two get into a fight?"

Gavin sniggered and said, "During my preparation to pose as a human in the Knights of the Dawn, I watched a series of human cartoons by Disney or whatever some such." He tapped a finger to his chin and then snapped his fingers, "As I recall, there were a few songs I remember…" He got to his feet and held out a hand to Kendra, she took it, but raised an eyebrow.

He began to dance with her as he sang, "So this is love? Hmmmnnmmm…So this is love?" Kendra blushed and stumbled along with his movements as he tugged her gently along. He stopped when he noticed Bracken and Seth had gone silent, glaring at Gavin profusely.

He let go of Kendra and winked at them, "Shall I sing you two a song? Alright then!" He said without letting them protest. "Can you feel the love tonight? It is where we all belong!" He wailed, waving an arm in the air, dramatically. Suddenly two satyrs crashed through the bushes and joined in, making the din louder.

Over the noise, Seth gasped and exclaimed, "Newel! Doren!"

The singing stopped and the goat-men looked over at their friend. "Seth!" They both yelled. Newel came over to punch Seth in the shoulder; Doren teared up a little and sniffled, hugging Seth. "I missed you!"

Newel stuck his nose up, "I didn't miss him."

"Yes you did, you sorry liar!" Doren corrected, "You sobbed like your mother would have if you had been kidnapped by a centaur!"

"Anyway. Glad you're not dead, Seth. We need more adventures like the old days." Newel said, clapping Seth on the shoulder.

Seth nodded and forced a smile, "It's good to be out." His hand moved to grip the dagger's hilt at his hip.

Bracken saw his knuckles whiten as they gripped the hilt. Worry flitted across his features for a moment, then Bracken smiled and took Seth's hand away from the weapon then held it, tugging Seth along to follow, "Let's go back to the house. Lunch should be ready soon; we can discuss our plan of action there."

Seth looked down to their linked hands then back up again to Bracken's clam eyes, "Yeah, sure."

They walked back to the house hand in hand with Kendra and Gavin talking behind them, and the Satyrs gamboling about at the rear chatting about a guacamole eating contest that they wanted to do once they reached the house.

Little did they know something dark was watching them, and something stormy was brewing in that house they called home as they continued on with the promise of sandwiches.


	5. Chapter 5

"No!" Kendra's mother screamed, "We will not let _that thing_ into our house again!"

Gavin pointed to his chest, "Me?"

"No."

Newel snorted and put his hands on his furry hips, "I hope you don't mean _me_, because I was promised guacamole!"

Marla Sorenson pointed an accusing finger at Seth and screamed shrilly, "Get away from Kendra and get out of my sight!"

Seth shrunk back in shock and pain, Bracken and Kendra immediately came to his defense.

"Mom! Seth didn't mean it! He's fine now, so please calm down." Kendra pleaded, her mother's eyes turned to her daughter and she spat the next poisoned words out,

"I don't want that spiteful little brat as my child anymore."

That was all Seth needed to hear to retreat back to his tree house. Bracken tried to stop him but was pushed away again. Kendra felt rage burn within her, she wanted to yell at her mother badly, but she also knew something wasn't right. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Bracken's ear, "My mom would never say those things to either of us. I think it may be a narcoblix, can you tell?"

Bracken leaned down ever so slightly and said, "I have to get close enough to touch her. I need her to look the other way for just a second."

"Done." Kendra said firmly and walked over to her mother.

"Come here, Sweetheart. Mommy's little favorite! We won't let that nasty little parasite hurt you ever again, right?" Martha cooed to her daughter as she slowly made her way up the steps. Her mother tilted her head up to look over her shoulder at her husband, who stood in the doorway.

"Martha, this is an overreaction. Please calm down." He soothed, trying to touch her arm.

His wife rabbit-punched him in the nose as she turned back to Kendra, "Now, how about a nice hug for Mommy?"

Kendra was worried about her father, but she needed to make all her mother's attention to be on her for just a second. She came into her mother's arms and stiffened, it felt wrong somehow, like hugging a stranger. Just as she was about to free herself from the hug, however, time seemed to slow down, she turned her head quickly and saw Gavin in mid-transformation into his dragon form, Bracken barely touching her mother's arm with an alarmed expression on his face, her father kneeling over holding his bloody nose.

She heard her breaths loudly in her ears seconds before she passed out.

When she woke up seven pairs of worried eyes looked down on her from where she lay on the bed. They all breathed sighs of relief when they saw her eyelids flutter open. She blinked and sat up, she saw all her grandparents, her father, Gavin, and Bracken all standing around, looking relived but still worried.

"How do you feel?" Bracken asked, touching her forehead with his cool hand, looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine. What happened?" She looked around, "Where's Mom?!"

Her father patted her on the head, "She's fine, just resting. Bracken said he took off the narcoblix bite, so it shouldn't happen again."

Kendra breathed a sigh of relief, "So it was a narcoblix."

Vanessa entered the room holding a file folder, "It wasn't just any narcoblix; it was my sister."

Warren came in behind her, "I met her, she was weird."

Gavin nodded, "I noticed that she is one of the current members of the Dark Night. One of their top agents, but certainly not the best or the most dangerous."

"She won't be back." Bracken said, "The same agent never strakes more than twice, isn't that right?"

Gavin, once again, nodded in affirmation, "They like to keep it that way. And we won't get a chance to face her again unless we take the fight to them." They all stood there in grim silence until Kendra got out of bed and stood up.

"I think that we should go tell Seth about the narcoblix as soon as possible." She proposed, she began walking to the door but Bracken took her hand and held her back.

"You can't go outside now. I will." Bracken said firmly and walked to the door.

"Be careful." Grandma called to him as he headed out the door.

"I will," Bracken affirmed.

"Wait, why?" Kendra asked, puzzled.

"It's the Summer Solstice." Grandpas Sorenson huffed. "And if that boy wants to keep his skin, he'll come in here."

"How close is it till dark?" Kendra asked, peeking through the curtains of the playroom. It was sunset.

"Late." Grandma Sorenson said gently. "We will give you some food to take up here and eat, you missed lunch and dinner."

At the mention of food Kendra's stomach growled in complaint.

Her father chuckled and rubbed her back, "Sooner rather than later is best, I think. I will be right back up with something to eat."

"Okay, Daddy." Kendra mumbled, going to sit on the bed and stepping over the salt.

Once they left Kendra went over to the window. If she wanted to make sure her brother got safely here, she would have to go herself. She grabbed her sword from where it hung over the chair and buckled the belt. She went over to the fairies and said, "Excuse me," As she took the lantern down and put it carefully on the desk next to the window.

They made noises that sounded like the tinkling of bells and made faces at her. For once, Kendra couldn't understand what they were saying. But she was in a hurry, so she climbed out the window, hanging onto the window sill. She then reached out to another, lower window sill with her foot, and grabbed onto the drain pipe. She climbed down using the skills that Bracken had taught her over the year.

Finally, she hopped down to the ground and saw that she had maybe seven minutes to get back to the house with her brother. She sprinted on the lawn to get to the tree house, which was a little ways away from the house. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the explosion.


	6. Chapter 6

Seth sat in his tree house for hours, thinking on why his own mother had acted that way. He felt miserable once more as he sat there, petting Mi'aiq numbly. Then, a soothing woman's voice called to him from the shadows of the corners.

_Seth Sorenson, young shadow charmer…_

He looked up, and said, "Who are you?"

_I am Morgana. I am a shadow charmer, like you._

"What are you doing on the preserve?" Seth asked, reaching for Vasilis, he wasn't taking any chances.

_Do you not know? The treaty has been broken this night. It is the Solstice. _

"So you're evil." Seth stated bluntly. The woman laughed lightly,

_Not all shadow charmers are inherently evil, Seth. You should know, you are a fine example of a virtuous young man, with powers beyond your wildest dreams. _

"I don't want power."

_Oh, but surly you want something…. You wish to save your family perhaps?_

Seth's eyes darted around, searching the darkness. "At least come into the light so I can hit you."

_Very well._

A swirl of black folded in the air in front of where Seth was sitting. There stepped out a regal lady; she wore a black gown that trailed on the floor, her long dark hair unbound, her striking green eyes flashing. "This is my corporal form."

Seth studied her with caution and shrugged his shoulders, "You look pretty intimidating to be honest."

She smiled a cool, casual smile, "Why thank you."

Mi'aiq hissed and scrambled to get in front of Seth, "This lady is-!" She waved her hand and Mi'aiq vanished. 

"Hey!" Seth said, standing up, "Give me back my friend!" He demanded, his hand on Vasilis' hilt.

Morgana gracefully shrugged her shoulders as if being released from a mantle, and waved her hand again. Mi'aiq reappeared, but this time as the size of a panther, he looked like one two.

"You have been realized from your curse, Mi'aiq. You can thank me later." She proclaimed sniffing a little in distaste as Mi'aiq flexed his paws, revealing sharp, talon-like claws. "Join me, Seth Sorenson, for I have much to teach you." She extended her hand and held it out to Seth.

Seth cringed away, "No offence, Lady, but why would I trust you?"

She smiled, "A fair question. But, let me ask, why would your family judge you? Merely because you have a heavy burden to bear and great powers? Tell me, is it wrong to judge people based on their talents and abilities?"

"Yes…" Seth sighed, conceding. "But still, I don't really know who you are."

"I was born in England many, many years ago. People thought I was a witch because of my powers, so they decided to kill me."

"That's unfair." Seth commented, feeling a little sympathetic.

"Indeed. Now your family has turned on you, and your powers as a shadow charmer have been growing, but you do not have a mentor."

"I have Mi'aiq." Seth said, looking down at the panther at his side, who had quietly steeled down for a nap, seemingly relaxed in the woman's presence.

She nodded, but did not withdraw her hand, "I can teach you how to break curses, like the one on that dagger there."

Seth looked down to the dagger in its black sheath and looked back up at the woman. "You're saying you can teach me to break the curse? How soon?"

Her lips curled up into a smile as she said, "If you start tomorrow, and if you practice every day, with your powers growing like they are… A month."

Seth grabbed her hand firmly and shook it, "Deal."

_Better to have this problem solved once and for all and not hanging on by a bet._ Seth thought, releasing his hand from her grip.

"We shall go now." Morgana announced, stepping into the fold of darkness that had reappeared in the back corner. "Come, young apprentice."

Seth took a deep breath and thought of his sister, Bracken, his parents and grandparents, the satyrs, and everyone he cared about. He would do it for them. The blade rattled in its sheath, Seth silenced all his thoughts of love and the dagger stopped.

"Where too?" He asked coldly as he stepped into the darkness beyond.


	7. Chapter 7

"Seth!" Kendra screamed and ran to the tree house, but it was so dark she couldn't see. The sun had fallen below the horizon sooner than she had anticipated. She stumbled blindly and fumbled around in the dark, helpless.

_Why can't I see?_ She thought furiously at herself.

Something brushed past her arm; it felt scaly. Something crawled past her leg; she yelped and hopped backwards, bumping into something bigger. She needed to get to the tree house, Seth had to get inside. She walked as carefully in the direction she had to as she could, but she was practically blind.

Then something grabbed her from behind and began dragging her. She screamed and tried to unsheathe her sword, but the sword wouldn't budge no matter how hard she tugged. "Let go of me!" She protested and struggled as much as she could. She kicked, but got nowhere doing so.

A roar split the air as Gavin came thundering out of the house. Already in his dragon form, he saw Kendra being dragged away, but she couldn't see him. He roared again and most of the smaller beasts cleared away. He bounded over to Kendra and snatched her up in his talons; she struggled, thinking it was another enemy. He leaped into the air and flew away to the grove where the church house once stood. He set her down gently and transformed back, taking her trembling form in his arms and stroking her back.

"I can't see anything!" She cried, tears of fear beginning to form in her eyes. He wiped the away and petted her head,

"Stan told me that this happens on festival nights, it gets very dark. But don't worry, I'm with you; nothing will happen to you, I promise." His reassuring murmur took away some of her fear, but she was still left panicking.

"You don't understand, I can usually see in the dark, now I can't!"

He shushed her and wiped away more tears. "We'll figure it out in the morning, alright."

She nodded mutely then tugged on his sleeve, "What about Seth?"

"Bracken is probably with him, so they're fine. Seth has Vasilis and Bracken can ward off the lesser creatures."

"I see." She said quietly, "They'll be okay, I'm glad."

Gavin glanced down and noticed her expression was one of guilt, "Why the face?" he asked, poking her cheek.

"What face?" She pouted, then sighed, "I'm jealous of Seth a little."

"Why?"

She sniffed and shrugged, "Bracken really cares about him, more than me at least, and I just really…" She began to choke up, "wanted Bracken to…" She stopped, sniffling some more.

Gavin once more wrapped his arms around her and held her close, "Kendra, don't ever doubt for a second that Bracken loves you, he does, truly."

"How do you know?" She asked skeptically.

He hesitated, then spoke slowly. "He told me. He warned me to back off and never harm you, or he'd kill me himself."

"That's just because I'm Fairykind." She sniffed.

"No Kendra, you mean so much more to him than that… but I can't tell you anything else, I wish I could though, anything to stop you from crying."

"What can't you tell me?" She asked, when he said nothing, she punched him in the chest, "Tell me!"

He stalwartly remained silent as she demanded and knocked on his chest. He noticed her cheeks were flushed red from anger at him, and the tears were gone from her eyes. "That's good." He sighed, relived.

"'That's good', what?!" Kendra insisted in irritation.

Gavin chuckled and pushed her over, she fell on her back and he followed, leaning his head on his arm and looking at her red face. "You're not crying anymore, but your face is all red." He kissed her cheek, "It's cute." Kendra yelped and sputtered, swatting his face away with her hands. He grinned and held three fingers up, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

She squinted, but her eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark very much. "Uh, two?"

"Wrong, but, in this case I wanted you to guess wrong."

"Why?"

"So you wouldn't see this coming."

Then she felt something warm pressed against her lips. She blinked in surprise, her eyelashes brushing against Gavin's cheek. It was soft at first, then he kissed her harder, making her make a small noise. They parted and lay there breathing quietly in the darkness.

"Kendra,"

She could hear his voice heavy with emotion, it made her heart skip a beat. But before either could say anything else, the sound of the dark festival was coming closer. Gavin got to his feet and tried to get a better sense of where they were.

Suddenly the horde came at them from two different directions, there were so many of them that air seemed scarce. The wraiths form the dungeon, the trolls form the swamp, giant bugs and wolves, and other beings circled the two.

Kendra froze up, paralyzed, Gavin stayed calm but his eyes darted about scanning the creatures; he then turned back into a dragon and roared. They backed off momentarily, then pressed in again, closer than before, surrounding the black dragon.

Gavin curled around Kendra protectively and shielded her from the monsters. _Don't worry, they won't hurt you. _He said, curling his forearms around her and setting his head in front of her. _They blocked of my flight rout, so we're going to have to stay here until they give up or when morning comes, whichever first._ He said grimly.

Kendra, from her little, cozy hiding place underneath Navarog's neck and body, shivered, "Will you be alright?"

_My scales are like obsidian, they do not break easily. They would have to go at it for hours. Sleep, I will watch over you. _

She shook her head and vowed to stay awake with him, but as the night wore on, and the pounding on Navarog's scales didn't cease, her eyes became heavy until the pounding became a muted lullaby of drums, and the shrieks the melody.


	8. Chapter 8

"Just so you know, I have a record of killing my mentors or flinging them into the air." Seth commented languidly. Morgana had just come into the room she had assigned him to be his bed chambers and was slightly taken aback by how at ease the boy looked.

Seth was sitting with his arm over the back of the chair and one foot propped up on the stool nearby. Morgana watched him for a moment, and then smiled; his arrogance really reminded her of _him_.

How irritating.

"You look so at home here, that is good." She commented pleasantly. "And I am not intimidated by your record of violence. I had already known this when I took you in."

Seth raised an eyebrow, "Oh? So what else do you know about me?"

Morgana walked closed, slowly and elegantly, her dark gown trailing behind her steps; it looked like a long, black tail. "You have quite the reputation, Seth. You are immune to magical fear; you were the pupil of Gaulas, whom you killed. You wield Vasilis…" She eyed the sword with distaste, "Which unfortunately is still in existence. You were there when Zzyzx was opened…" She tilted her head towards him, "Shall I go on?"

Seth waved a hand, "Please do."

Morgana had to restrain herself from flaying him alive. The nerve of this brat! He was exactly like…!

She calmed herself then proceeded, "You escaped from Living Mirage… No small feat. Obtained a key to the demon prison, stole a unicorn horn from centaurs… Seth, you are quite the prodigy." Yes, she would lay the flattery down thick. She needed him to trust her, and then she would work on his attitude.

He stood up and walked over to her, "How do we start?"

She smiled knowingly and motioned for him to follow her; Mi'aiq stayed behind and lounged on the floor. This bothered Seth, but he said nothing. Seth knew that panther wasn't Mi'aiq. That Mi'aiq was just some tame panther Morgana gave Seth, but he knew it from the moment he touched the cat's fur that it wasn't his friend. The real Mi'aiq must be held somewhere here in a cage; as soon as he learned to break the curse he would get them both out of here.

Morgana subtly watched Seth's face as she led him down twisting, bent stairways and dark corridors to the deepest part of her domain. She knew that he was thinking of his little familiar, who she had taken hostage. She knew he knew of his friend's peril. But she admired the boy for pretending he didn't notice. Hey were both civil, but were still waging a silent war. How fun.

She came to a large rusted-over iron door and withdrew a key from her sleeve and unlocked the door, tucking the key back into her right sleeve again. She led the way inside and motioned to the room, "These will be your new quarters from now on."

Seth gave the room a quick scan. He heard an alarm going off in the back of his mind. It was a prison. He turned to her with a ready smile, "This place is great! Does it have a rec room? The prison at Living Mirage had one." He looked around with a smile. "This brings back memories!"

She laughed gracefully and shook her head, "No, not in a cell, come." She motioned to a giant wooden platform with a lever; a goblin stood there and pulled the lever once they stepped onto the platform.

As it went steadily down Seth counted the number of cell windows they passed, guessing that one window equaled one floor level. When they had passed thirty-seven windows they came to a stop, but there was no floor.

"Now young Shadow Charmer," Morgana said pleasantly, putting her hand on Seth's back, "let us see what you are made of." Her expression turned into a snarl as she pushed him off the edge.

He fell forward and plunged into the dark liquid in the pool at the bottom. The first thing he didn't worry about was air, even though he had forgotten to breathe before he hit, it was if he'd ever see light again.

Darkness closed in around him, the air slowly left his mouth as slow, molasses-like bubbles, his thoughts became less concentrated, and his vision became hazy. Voices that weren't his spoke in his mind; saying everything and nothing. Who was he? What is this dark? What is light? Life? Has he ever lived one? What is anything? Breath. Love. Light. Those words lost meaning as his lungs crumpled, his eyes closed, his body relaxed and he breathed in slowly.

Feeling was brought back by something coarse rubbing against his arms and back. A rope net closed in around him and fished him out of the darkness. When air met his lungs he coughed, then spat, choking down mouthfuls of it and exuding the dark liquid. He lay there motionless and gasping on the ground, limbs tangled by fishing net.

Morgana regarded him with distaste, "You will learn to withstand it."

Seth tried to move his body to sit up, and his arms to strangle the lady, but he barely had the strength to move one finger.

"You know why you almost died?" Seth moved his head sideways slightly, she continued, "You see this ring?" She knelt down and twisted Seth's hand up to his face, it was painful, but he didn't say anything, "It nearly killed you. If you suppress your powers, how are you expected to excel?"

She released her hold and stood back up, brushing her hands off and turning away, heading to the wooden elevator. He managed to make one of his shoulders twitch as she rose into the air, leaving him behind. The bottom of the wooden elevator rose so far up that he couldn't see it anymore, and one it disappeared, the darkness that took it's place was the last thing he saw.


	9. Chapter 9

Kendra woke to the sound of groan. Her eyes snapped open and she flinched, her foot accidentally kicking Gavin in the chin. He grunted in pain and uncurled around her; daylight flooded in around Kendra, she blinked in the bright morning light, squinting to see the large, black dragon next to her.

Once her vision cleared she stifled a scream. Some of his scales on his back were shattered or broken, blood seeped out of wounds and parts of his scaled look like they had been melted by acid. She ran over to him and hugged his head, "Gavin! I'm so sorry!" She cried. Kissing his nose and hugging him tighter. "I'm sorry."

He transformed back into his human form and groaned, leaning almost all his weight on Kendra. His back was covered in cuts and burns; it was painful for Kendra to look at. She adjusted his arm so that it lay across her shoulder so that that she could support him as they walked.

They managed to stumble over logs and drag through the bushes until they finally came to the front yard. Kendra's mother stood out on the porch holding a trash bag, she was sweeping the broken glass of the front windows up with a broom and into the bag. She looked up just as Kendra and Gavin came into view. Gasping, she went to her daughter immediately and helped her drag Gavin into the house.

Once they were inside Kendra was immediately surrounded by family exclaiming over where she had been and why she was with Gavin. They only stopped pressing in around her and bombarding her with questions after tears began to fall from her eyes. They backed up a step and were met with a fierce glare.

"Dad!" Kendra snapped suddenly, "Make some salve for Gavin's back."

Her father grabbed his potion kit and began pulling vials out and mixing various ingredients. Kendra's mother lead Gavin to lie down on the couch, and Kendra turned to Grandpa Sorenson,

"Seth?" She asked shortly.

He grumbled and waved a hand to the door, "He hasn't come back yet. Stupid boy…"

Kendra turned her gaze to her grandmother, "Bracken?"

She held her hands up in helpless puzzlement, "I don't know dear, but I'm sure the boys are fine." She sounded worried as she said it though, he voice shaking a little.

Kendra sighed and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, this was bad. She turned to Gavin and knelt down next to where he lay on his stomach on the couch. "You okay?"

"Yeah," He exhaled, wincing and hissing little as her father put more of the cream he had concocted on his back.

Kendra took Gavin's hand and squeezed it, "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

"It wasn't your fault." He sighed, twisting his shoulders slightly so he could look into her eyes.

The door crashed open and a moment later Bracken appeared holding a large part of the tree house wall. They held silence for a second before Kendra's mother attempted to motion for him to calm down. Bracken stomped in and propped the wood up on the house wall. Burned into the wood were words written in flowing letters, it read;

_The Charmer of Shadows will be returned to his element, to be thrown back into the darkness. Beware the shadows, Sorensons. He will return to deal your deaths. _

At the bottom of the script a black hand was scorched into the wood. They read the message in grave silence. Kendra's mother broke down into tears, "You have to tell him I didn't mean it! Please, he probably hates me… It's all my fault!"

Her husband stood up and held his wife, rubbing her back to calm her down and whispering into her hair. Bracken ran a hand through his ruffled silver hair and blew air out of his lungs in attempt to calm his nerves.

"Seth's been kidnapped?" Kendra said, interpreting the cryptic claim on her own.

Bracken walked over to the couch and glared menacingly down at the demon-dragon. "And I want to know just how they got through the barrier even on a festival night. Are they not _your people_, Navarog." Faster than most of them could blink he grabbed Gavin's neck, "What did they do to Seth?" He growled, his voice betraying centuries of hatred and fury and pain with those words.

Gavin choked and Kendra forced Bracken to release his grip on him, "I don't know," Gavin gasped, his weak hand gasping it his own throat, "I didn't know that she would make her move on him quite yet."

"Quite yet…" Bracken mocked, a snarl on the very edge of his voice.

Kendra had had enough. She stood up between them and pushed Bracken back. "What's gotten into you?!" He looked down at her, his eyes widening as he slowly realized how he had acted. "Yes, Seth is gone. Yes, the Dark Night took him. So what? Seth has been kidnapped before, let's assume he's mostly fine, and come up with a calm, safe way to get him back home. That sound good?"

Bracken took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, Kendra, you're right. I'm sorry," He shot an apologetic look to Gavin as well and sat down on the floor, crossing his legs meekly like a preschooler who just got scolded.

"Oh dear." Scott sighed as he mashed up some leaves in his hand to make more paste, "I didn't think I would have to use the shotgun for both of them." He stood up and put down the leaf, but his hands still had chlorophyll smeared on it. He went over to Bracken and shook the unicorn's hand firmly, "Take care of Seth."

"I will." Bracken solemnly affirmed.

_No, Bracken… Dad doesn't mean it like that…_ Kendra's mind groaned. Then she straightened herself out and turned to Gavin, "Your mother was the one who took Seth?"

"Looks like that." Gavin coughed, studying the part of the tree house wall from where he lay. "She's a dragon, who gave up her dragon form. She's a wizard, and a very powerful one at that."

"What are Seth's chances fighting her?"

"Slim to none." Gavin said immediately, then saw her parents cringe, he quickly revised his wording, "Well, he is very powerful for a Shadow Charmer, especially at his age. But she has had millennia to practice her art. Seth is smart; so he wouldn't try to fight her."

"What about Vasilis?" Kendra asked.

Gavin seemed about to say something discouraging, then he paused, and his eyes opened wide, "Yeah, that might work. It managed to chip one of her talons in the past."

"Chip on of her talons?..." Kendra muttered, "_That_ sounds reassuring."

Bracken looked thoughtful for a second then turned to the adults, "I will see that Seth is returned to you in good health." He looked up at Kendra, "So don't worry."

Then he stood up and walked over to the door, Kendra reached out and caught his sleeve, "Wait! What are you going to do?!" He had to have a plan, Bracken always had a plan.

Bracken stopped and turned, bringing her into a hug, "As much as I hate to involve my people, I must. I will call all of my brethren as I can to me, and hope they follow."

"I can help!" Kendra exclaimed, becoming enthusiastic, "I can get more fairies on your side to help!"

Bracken shook his head and looked grieved; he placed his hands on Kendra's shoulders and looked straight into her eyes, "Kendra, you can't."

"Yes I can, I'm just trying to help. And if you don't want fairies fighting, then let me come with you!"

"That's not what I mean." Bracken voiced, "I would gladly have you by my side if that didn't mean putting you in danger but, you can no longer even hope to defend yourself out there."

"What do you mean?" Kendra asked suspiciously, getting a sinking feeling that everyone in the room knew something she didn't as the mood darkened.

"I mean, Kendra," Bracken said softly, "you aren't Fairykind anymore."


	10. Chapter 10

Seth woke to searing pain, he cracked his eyes open and tried to move, but couldn't. He was bound into place by metal straps; at his back was a metal chair, his hands cuffed to the armrest. He shivered due to his bare skin pressed against the metal; he looked down and realized his shirt was gone. He heard a grunt and he looked up and left. There stood?… sat? A demon that looked kind of like Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.

"_I am your new instructor on mental and emotional attacks, Seth Sorenson." _The demon gurgled, flapping one of its flabby arms.

"You seem to know my name, what's yours?" Seth asked, squirming a little to test the strength of his bonds.

"_I am Slathgrus, the demon of dark desires and temptations!"_ The demon proclaimed, very proud of its title.

Seth looked the demon up and down incredulously, snorting a little, unimpressed. "If chocolate cake counts as a dark desire, then I can see it." He muttered to himself, slightly amused.

Suddenly waves of pain racked his mind, his head spun and his mind rebelled against him, he couldn't focus. A splitting head ache dominated his thought patterns and he no longer registered anything. It was over in seconds, but Seth had no desire to experience that level of headache ever again.

"I'm sorry." Seth muttered when he came to his senses.

"_Good…"_ The blob grunted, _"Now block my mind from probing yours. You have to be decently good at it at least before her majesty see you."_

"Her majesty?" Seth asked before feeling his mind being wrenched out of his control and spun all over the room, a booming voice filled his thoughts,

_You are not focusing, Boy! Think!_

Seth tried to focus, but couldn't do it. Cluttering his mind were the sounds of hundreds upon thousands of dead souls, all clamoring for his attention, demons whispering to him from their prison bars, laughter. He got so dizzy that he threw up on the floor, and suddenly the nauseous spinning ended with all the sounds.

"_You are terrible."_ Slathgrus spat, and began waddling away. Seth was too numb to respond as he hung limp from his bonds.

When the demon disappeared down a long, black path that lead to a place which Seth could not see, Morgana appeared out of the black lake that surrounded the chair on all sides. She strode confidently up to Seth and chuckled, "My my, looks like you have less talent than I thought."

"This is not what I asked for." Seth spat when he got his bearings back.

"Well, I never said it would be easy. The road to power is a harsh and treacherous path, the skills I am giving you now you will prize later. You should thank me."

"I will never thank someone like you." He glared defiantly, "You're a demon."

She smoothly put her hand to her heart and tipped Seth's head up to look her in the eye, cupping his chin with a firm hand. "I'm a dragon. You would not dare to challenge me in a million, thousand years." Her eyes flashed a dangerous emerald green and she released her grip on his face.

They glared at each other with loathing until Morgana snapped her fingers. The metal clamps over Seth's chest released and she began striding away to the wooden elevator that appeared on the black path. Seth staggered to his feet and tried to follow, but his legs were numb from not moving and having no blood circulate through their veins.

When he managed to stand he fell over, and from the ground, he watched the wooden elevator rise into the air. He cursed himself for letting her get away and letting the opportunity for a ticket out of here up. When he got his energy back he slammed his fist into the obsidian floor and stood up slowly.

He was standing on an island in the middle of the back lake, the floor was black, but it reflected what little light there was, so he could see where the water began and the island started. The chair sat in the centre of the island on a small dais, and was the only thing that looked different from the rest of the black and dark grey.

One thin walkway from the wooden elevator to the island stretched on to lead to an unknown destination. Slathgrus had slithered down that path and disappeared, so Seth had to assume the path went somewhere. As far as he saw, he had no choice. So Seth began his walk down the path, and into the darkness beyond.


	11. Chapter 11

Kendra blinked slowly, the sound of everything coming crashing down filled her mind as she began to realize. "There's no way…How?" She said numbly.

"That narcoblix injected you with a virus that cancels out your fairy powers, as well as my mother's abilities to help you." Bracken's hands on her shoulders gave her a squeeze, "This virus would have killed a fairy, or some other creature of the light connected to the Fairy Queen, but since without your powers you are an ordinary human, and you can survive without your powers… You are now normal."

Kendra held up her hands and looked at them, she still couldn't see her aura, and she felt no different but she saw what he meant. "I couldn't see in the dark last night, and touching Gavin didn't strengthen his scales…" She looked around at her family, "Did you know?" They stood in ashamed silence, not looking at her. "How long have you known?"

"I discussed it with them while you slept, Kendra." Bracken said, casting a glance at Grandpa Sorenson, "Certain parties wished that you be told gently at a much later time, but seeing as there is no avoiding it, there you are; the truth."

Kendra looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. Amidst all these changes in her life and dramatic happenings, for the first time ever, she felt like she could do something. Even though this was the only time where she had no power, she felt utterly calm and sure of herself.

She reached for the sword at her side and tried to draw it from its sheath, it remained stuck. She nodded, satisfied with this result. "I can't use this sword anymore, so I'll just give it to someone who can."

"Kendra, what are you doing?" Her mother called as Kendra ran to the drawer where all the junk mail was stored, she knew most of the death-threat mail was burned, but she was confident her father had missed one while sorting the mail. Soon she found what she was looking for, a black envelope with red lettering on the front.

She quickly opened it and read the contents, that were, thankfully, in English. Kendra smiled in confidence as she folded the letter carefully. "I might need some help Dad. Can you grow one of those cactus monsters again if needed?"

"Sure, Kiddo. What's the plan? Are we gonna kick ass?" Her father grinned and began bouncing up and down with anticipation.

"Scott!" His wife exclaimed in exasperation. Bracken and Gavin cracked a smile as the mood lightened a little as everyone chuckled as the husband and wife began a playful mock fight.

Kendra laughed for a second, then sobered, knowing that the most important role she would have in her brother's rescue was impending. She then considered her options and said, "Bracken, will you come too? It will only take a minute."

"Yes, I am willing to go along." He readily agreed.

"I will come too," Gavin started to get up off the couch, but Kendra forced him back down again.

"You need to stay and rest and heal, it will really only take a minute." She reassured, then turned to her grandfather, "I need a car."

Grandpa Sorenson nodded and sighed, "Only if Scott drives. You're taking the loss of your powers with surprising grace, are you sure you are feeling alright?"

"Never felt more sure of myself since Zzyx." She said.

"What your grandfather really means is," Her father chimed in, leaning to the side and stage whispering to his mother, "_I think she's gone loopy_!"

Kendra shook her head, "I'm all good. Actually, now I know I can think clearly." She looked over to Bracken.

_My feelings for Bracken have made it difficult for me to think clearly lately. I was just so worried about him rejecting me, that when it really happened if felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I can do this. _

During breakfast they all discussed their course of action from there on out, figuring out a crude plan from various bits of information Gavin had, Kendra's mail, Bracken's strategy, Scott's cactus plants, and Stan's pancakes.

When they finally set their forks down, they had come up with a strategy that everyone was satisfied with, which was a first. And when Kendra stood up from the table, a black ball of miscalculation came flying at her chest.

"Mi'aiq needs help! Seth has been taken far, far away!" The cat yowled, waving its tail furiously and kneading his tiny paws into Kendra's boobs.

"Hey! Watch it, Shapeshifter!" Gavin snapped and smacked the cat away.

Mi'aiq landed in Bracken's arms, who promptly hugged the cat. Kendra stared in disbelief as Bracken squeezed the life out of the fluff ball.

"You wonderful cat!" Bracken held the cat away from him and looked at it seriously, "Where's Seth?"

Mi'aiq squirmed and flailed, "That is what Mi'aiq has to tell you! Young master has been taken to the very, very, very deepest part of the dungeon!" The distraught feline mewled. 

Bracken dropped the cat and a tremor of fear visibly went through his whole body. "We need to get him out of there _now_."

"What about the plan?" Gavin reminded.

"Forget the plan." Bracken turned to face all of them, desperation in his eyes, "Or there might be nothing left of him to rescue."


	12. Chapter 12

Seth wandered aimlessly all the while staying on the narrow path. Everything looked the same, and he wasn't sure how far he had walked already, or how much he had left to go. He looked to his right, and saw the wavering water sit to the side of the path, beckoning him to dive in and forget what being alive was like.

Faintly recalling Morgana's words, he looked down at his ring, then slowly slid it off his finger and tucked it carefully inside his pocket. He took at step towards the water and looked into its in measurable depths before diving in.

Immediately the darkness consumed him. But it wasn't as terrible as before, he felt less afraid or hopeless and realized that before he had been eaten by the dark, now he should _become_ it. He relaxed his body until he almost felt one with that water itself. His consciousness began to slip once more, but this time he didn't notice.

Something slapped him hard across the face. Seth's eyes snapped open and his sight net with a wrinkled, tall, and very thin woman… with blue skin. He stammered and coughed a little, she shook him not so gently but not too rough to help him get the water out of his lungs.

He sat up in her arms and bowed his head, "Thanks, um…" He glanced up at her, "Are you a demon?"

She rolled her three eyes and stood, "Jiin." Was all she said as she trudged away, dragging her shackled ankle behind her free one.

"Is that like a genie?" Seth asked, climbing to his feet and following her.

She stopped and looked back at him; she muttered something in some sort of Asian language that he didn't understand. But she did motion for him to stop moving. She kept walking and went back to being silent. Seth took a few more steps to follow her. She turned around again and tapped his forehead.

In his mind's eye, he suddenly knew where to go; a shortcut to get back to the dais. She seemed satisfied with that and was about to turn away when Seth said, "I know that's where you think I should go, but I don't want to go back there."

She seemed to be listening, so he continued. "I don't belong here, you don't either, do you?"

She paused for a moment, processing his question, and then tapped his forehead again. She walked away, but this time Seth didn't follow her, she had shown him where to find her if he ever needed her. It made him feel better to know that someone else down here was kind, but it pained him to see someone innocent jailed at the same time.

He followed the Jiin's instructions for getting back to his chair. He took a deep breath and put one foot on the surface of the water. Instead of sucking him in or letting him fall, it supported him and saw what he needed. When he opened his eyes again he was back at the edge of the dais.

He went back to his chair and sat down, tired from the ceaseless walking and the swim. His stomach growled, he was starving, the last time he ate something had been a day ago, his body was weakening and he could feel it. Would Morgana feed him? Probably not.

He relaxed in his seat, his body now accustomed to the darkness, and decided to sleep. But before he could close his eyes voice crashed into his mind like hammer blows. He reeled in his seat, all at once delirious. The noise grew stronger until he heard Slauthgras laughing in the background. Seth gritted his teeth and forced himself to fight the power of the whispers, moans, chants, pleas, cries, and screaming, yelling, taunting, laughter.

"Enough," A cool voice cut through the din, and all were silenced. Morgana stood in front of the throne, gazing piously at Seth with her green cat eyes. "You must eat to survive, here." She handed him some leathery balls the size of his eye, "These will sustain you."

Seth took one and looked at it. Poisoned? Maybe not. He stuck it inside his mouth and instantly regretted it. It was the worst thing he had ever tasted, it made him want to gag, but it filed the entire space of is mouth. He was forced to chew and swallow, at the end his throat was so parched he knelt down on the floor and puckered his lips to the surface of the water.

Morgana grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him backward, pulling him away from the water. "It is poison, you foolish boy." She struck him across the face and left him to get to his feet and watch as she vanished with the wooden platform once again.

Seth felt something warm trickle down the back of his neck, he reached back and felt his blood dripping from the nail marks Morgana had left. He removed his hand and looked at the garnet red shine. He almost turned away from the water and went back to sit on his chair, but the water moved as if a being of unknown size had just woken.

"What now?" Seth mumbled, too tired to deal with whatever came next. Vasilis was left back up in his old room, so he was virtually defenseless.

The water calmed to a slight ripple, but there was still a sense of tension in the water. Then a great but silent voice came from it.

_Blood makes a contract. As unbreakable as death. Make a contract. Blood sacrifice. Give me your blood._

Seth felt himself fall into a trance; some part of him knew that was a terrible idea. But his body followed the voice's commands. He dipped his bloody hand into the water; he felt the water suck away the blood and he heard the voice again.

_What is your name?_

"Seth Sorenson." Seth muttered against his will. He had to fight this! He had to!

_I am known by many names, among them Tartarus, Hell, and Xibalba. You knew me best as Inferno, old friend. Is that not right, Avitus?_

"Not what you once were, friend." Seth mechanically said, "You are down here, you have fallen low."

_But now, with you here, the key to my rise is here. The contract is made, you will resurrect me, and I shall unlock the secrets of death for you, young shadow charmer._

The presence faded, and Seth crumpled to the obsidian floor, unconscious and unaware of anything but the sounds of curiously familiar Latin being spoken to him softly.


	13. Chapter 13

They parked the car on the side of the road a few miles from Fablehaven. Kendra, her father, and Vanessa get out of the vehicle and went slightly into the trees that were next to the road. Kendra clutched the letter to her chest and hoped she wasn't pining most of her hope on an empty threat.

She un-rumpled the piece of paper and read the Chinese characters with the English sounds that her father had written under it one more time in her mind. She looked over to her father, who gave her thumbs up. She took a deep breath and read the letters.

When she finished, a glowing blue mist rose from the ground and swirled in the air. It formed something like a hologram that floated a little off the ground. Yu Jin turned to look at Kendra with a contemptuous glare,

"So, you finally agreed to challenge me-" She sniffed haughtily and readjusted the tape on her broken nose.

Kendra cut her off, "No, but I have a deal for you." She pulled the sword of Goujian out from her jacket, "You want to be an Eternal, right?"

"I will not accept charity from the likes of you!" Jin turned her nose up at Kendra, "You think that just because you have powers that you didn't have to work hard for you can-"

"I don't have my powers anymore." Kendra interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ha!" Jin laughed haughtily, "So the mighty Kendra Sorenson loses her powers and decides to just give up?!"

Kendra shook her head, "I'm not giving up, but I do need your help."

Jin stopped laughing and narrowed her eyes, "What sort of help?"

"You are pretty powerful," Kendra began, "And I take it you'd be even more powerful with this." She held up the sword, "And as I said, I need help. So, I'd be willing to give you the sword in exchange for your aid."

"My aid in what, exactly?" Jin asked suspiciously, but eyeing the sword nonetheless.

"In rescuing my brother."

Jin licked her lips eagerly, "And where is he being held?"

Kendra took a deep breath and repeated what Gavin had said, "In the dungeon of the Realm of Morgana."

Jin frowned, then shrugged, "I have never heard of such a thing… but I will help you." She eyed the sword, "In exchange for the sword of Goujian." The hologram shifted to the right a little, and the blue light wavered, "I will be here in twenty-four hours." He waved her hand and the visage disappeared.

Kendra nodded, "Right," He turned to Vanessa and her father. "We need to assemble a strike team."

They drove back to the house in a hurry and began pulling weapons out of the attic and basement. Scott checked up on his chemistry, alchemy, and potion sets. Vanessa called Tanu and other associates to see if they could make the journey, but only one responded; Mike.

With everything busy inside and with her in the way, Kendra decided to go for a walk. She walked on the lawn to the edge of the woods and saw Hugo forlornly slumped in a pile nearby. She went over and patted the golem. He raised his earthy head and rumbled,

"Hugo miss Seth."

"We all do," Kendra said, patting his rocky arm.

"Seth gone long time." Hugo said, "First there," He raised a finger to point at the partly destroyed tree house. "Now gone." Hugo gestured vaguely and slumped back down again.

Kendra felt sorry for the golem, but she knew there was nothing she could do at the moment to get Seth back. So she continued her walk and eventually found herself at the hedge. She went through and gazed despondently at the canoe lake and to the island at the center. She wanted to go onto the island, but with her powers not active, she was worried the Fairy Queen might make her explode into a cloud of dandelion fluff by accident. So she went and sat on the gazebo steps and listened to the sounds of the fairies tinkling, the wind blowing, and the hoots of satyrs in the background, when suddenly the lake blew a geyser of water and a small, silver dragon came flying through.

"Raxtus!" Kendra exclaimed, happily running to the dock to meet him as he landed. "You're better!"

_Yeah, thanks to you._

Raxtus said shyly, letting her hug him.

_But are you alright? You fought my dad, he's really mad at you right now so I wouldn't go back if I were you unless you want to be eaten. _

Kendra paled; the idea of the king of dragons and caretaker of Wyrmroost not liking her didn't exactly make her feel better.

_I'm not worried about that though; I came here to warn you._

"About what?" Kendra asked, feeling apprehension build as the dragon finally said.

_Navarog is back on the loose,_

He whispered, as if the black dragon could hear him.

_I spit him up Kendra, I'm sorry. _

"No, it's okay." Kendra reassured him, "He's on our side now."

_Hold on, he tried to kill you, and he's on our side?_

"Yes."

_He is a demon prince, and he's on our side?_

"I think so."

_He deceived you once already, and he's on your side?_

"It just feels right, okay?"

Raxtus shuffled his foreclaws nervously and squinted at Kendra,

_You don't look alright to me. Are you less glowy than before?_

"Yeah," Kendra sighed, dropping to sit on the pier, "I lost my powers. I got a virus that canceled them out anyway."

_Did Navarog give it to you?_

The dragon asked suspiciously.

"No! Look, if he does betray us, you have my full permission to eat him again."

_I don't really want to eat him again, but if you want me to, I could. As long as he's in his human form. _

"Thanks Raxtus," Kendra smiled in gratitude, "Can you fly us back to the house? I've got to help. My brother's been kidnapped."

_Again?_

Later that evening Kendra and her mother sat and listened to Gavin describe the castle and its layout. Kendra's mother sketched the floor plans from how Gavin described it and handed it to her daughter, who studied it.

"Mom, this is really good!" She exclaimed in wonder. Her mother had drawn a very detailed and very accurate sketch of the castle and dungeons.

Gavin looked over the drawings and looked impressed, "These are great!"

Her mother blushed in pride as she took the pages back and said, "I wanted to be an architect, but I ended up becoming a math teacher instead."

"But why Mom?!" Kendra shook her head in disbelief, "You're good at it!"

Her mother sighed and stood up, "It's harder than it seems, being a woman architect." She walked away leaving Kendra and Gavin alone to discuss further plans.

Kendra frowned, "It shouldn't be like that…"

"What?"

"Women should have the same chance as men to get jobs if they like it or if their good at it."

Gavin studied Kendra's face, she had her forehead creased in a frown and she was biting her bottom lip; she was upset. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, "You can do anything you want to do, I believe in you."

She smiled over at him, a small blush on her cheeks, "Thanks." Then the bubbles of giddiness inside her popped and she came back to the present, "Even if what I want to do is go with everyone else to rescue my brother?"

Gavin took in a sharp breath, and sat up. He grabbed Kendra's hand and pulled her to her feet. He stood, looking down at her with an intense gaze that shocked her to her core. "No."

His voice sent a shudder down her spine. His eyes were firm but passionate as they stood staring at each other.

"You died there once; I will never allow you to go there ever again. Do you understand?" He was crushing her hand in his grip, his other hand clenching her shoulder tightly.

"I-I uh," Kendra stuttered, unable to get her thoughts to coordinate with her mouth.

"I said; DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" He yelled, his voice more akin to that of a dragon in its thundering roar.

Her father came running in and threw a metal ball from his hand that sprayed Gavin with a colored gas. Gavin groaned in pain as the gas stung his wounds and corroded away some of his bandages. He hit the floor on his knees and panted, weakly warding away the fumes with an arm.

Scot ran to his daughter and put an arm around her, "He didn't hurt you?"

Kendra shook her head, so her father recalled his invention into his hand. She knelt down next to Gavin, immune to the gas that clung to his form, and asked, "What do you mean; I died there once?"


	14. Chapter 14

Opening his eyes, Seth blinked a few times in the darkness, and shook his head to clear it. He used his hand as support as he got to his feet; he cracked his stiff neck to the side and felt it release its tension with a satisfying pop. He then rolled his shoulder's back, he felt… good. Well, better than he had been. The sour taste and dryness in his mouth from the pellets Morgana had given him was gone, and his hunger was satisfied. He also felt stronger, he looked to the black lake, would he regret making a deal with whatever that thing was?

He rolled his shoulders back and peered at the surface of the lake. Before jumping in, he felt inside his pocket and gripped the ring tightly, tracing the silver-engraved unicorns with his thumb. He tucked it further down in his pocket and removed his hand. Bending his knees, he leapt into the air and into the water.

Darkness consumed him again, but it felt ever more natural. Instead of working against him, it helped him find what he was looking for. Switching directions, he used the darkness to propel himself where he wanted to go. He surfaced and stepped onto the obsidian walkway. Instead of empty nothingness before him as it always seemed to be no matter how far he walked, craggy holes carved and knocked into the sides of a tall cliff wall came into his line of sight.

Seth smiled triumphantly, and then realized that he wouldn't have been able to get to this place without the lake and the jinn's help. He got closer to the cliff face and found where the obsidian walkway ended, and the towering wall began. A rusty chain hung down from the nearest cave's entrance, he grabbed it and hoisted himself up, hooking his fingers through the links and pulling himself farther up towards his goal.

Once he finally reached the cave floor he stood with his back bent, he was taller than the ceiling and was forced to duck down as he walked. "Um… Ms. Jinn-lady?" He called softly through the darkness. In response to his call a purple fire glowed and lit the room in an indigo hue.

The Jinn sat on a faded and tattered Persian rug in the middle of the cave holding in her thin palm a ball of violet fire. She looked up at him with her three eyes; Seth shifted his weight feeling a little embarrassed to have come unannounced.

"Sorry for disturbing you…" He muttered, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. She waved her other hand and uttered something in her garbled language motioning for him to sit down. He did so and cracked a friendly grin, "Thanks. And if you don't mind… I have a few questions."

Hours passed it seemed as Seth sat there in the company of the Jinn woman and listened to her speech. At first he had not understood a thing, but gradually his ears became more attuned to the words and his mind connected them to their meanings. Eventually he became totally absorbed by her story that he actually began visualizing it. When she stopped talking, it took a few minutes for Seth to break out of his trance-like state.

The mug in his hands that held the warm liquid that tasted kind of like coffee that Roshanak, the Jinn's name as he learned, had prepared, has gone cold in his hands. During the story he had almost totally forgotten that he had it in his hands. He gripped the cup tighter in his hands for a second then looked back up at Roshanak,

"That's so sad." Was all he could say, "I'm sorry you're here, I'm sorry about your family, your vessel, and everything."

She rasped a sigh, "It's all in the past now." She said. Her wise eyes full of pain but misted over by age.

Seth was quiet for a second, then stood up, "I'm going to get us both out of here, and I will free as many of your kin as I can." He promised, "I swear." He set down the mug and bowed, "Thanks for the coffee, it was great." She watched him grab the chain and scale down the wall again, and fingered the rusted chains around her ankles.

Seth fell the last five feet to the ground and landed on his feet. He looked around, some of the other residents of the wall had crawled out of their homes to check him out, but now they scurried away. He turned to the water and let himself fall in once more.

He was getting the hang of this; he grinned as he sped through the water without moving and surfaced next to the black throne. He when got out, however, he noticed something terribly wrong. Slathgrus sat waiting for him on the dais with a smaller, black imp at his side. Seth's grin turned sour into a grimace, as the booming growl of the demon's voice in his head bade him sit.

Seth went over to his chair and sat down; when the metal clamps shut over his chest and arms he realized his mistake. The demon dragged closer and the imp danced forward, its spiny fingers becoming longer and sharper and a danger to Seth's bare chest. Seth tried to flinch away, but lacked the room to squirm.

Slathgrus chuckled, gurgling a little, _You are late, so I think I will not go easy on you, Seth Sorenson._

Exploding pain bloomed behind his eyes and stars and black spots dance in his sight. Slathgrus entered Seth's mind and probed. But something was different this time, there was less in it. Or so it seemed

Seth's thoughts were cloaked in a foggy blackness, Slathgrus moved the fog and found underneath his thoughts, fears, memories, everything. Seth tried to put up a might, blurring the inside of his mind, trying desperately to obscure the demon's vision.

Slathgrus nodded his blubbery head at the imp, who grinned in evil delight and raked its claws across Seth's chest. Blood spilled from the wound and ran down in rivulets across the metal clasps on his chest. He screamed through gritted teeth and tried to resist crying.

Slathgrus saw the flashed of light from the pain in Seth's mind, it cleared away all the black fog. The demon grinned and licked it's fat lips.

* * *

**Snow Tempest here! I'm so sorry for subjecting Seth to torture! So before you hit that review button with it saying something like, 'How could you DO that?!' 'Why didn't Seth just stay with the Jinn lady?' 'WHY Are YOU DOING THIS YOU ArE 2 mean!' Stop and consider this; I cried. I feel sorrow when I hurt them, I really do. But I always do everything with an intended purpose, so bear with me here people. Thanks!**


	15. Chapter 15 (bonus)

Bracken knelt before the Fairy Queen, his blue eyes unwavering as he held his mother's gaze.

"I already said no." She sighed, feelings of remorse and pity flowed from her to Bracken, but he shook them off.

"But Seth-" He protested,

She cut him off with a wave of her graceful hand, "I understand your concern, and it is true that he had aided us in the battle against the demon horde, but I simply cannot risk the lives of my citizens for the sake of one."

Bracken stood up, his eyes narrowed into a glare. "So I'm on my own?"

The Fairy Queen, turned away a little, wounded by her son's defiant stare, "Look at yourself,"

Bracken turned to look at his reflection cast in the surface of the waterfall they had in the new throne room. His image stared back at him,

"You looked the same on that day, they day when-"

"I know what day, my Queen." He interjected sharply.

"You disobeyed me and directly attacked Morgana's realm, as well as invoked her wrath and sparked war between our realms. And as a result, my power was drained for hundreds of years, and you were locked away." She shouted, enraged at his past disobedience.

"But how could you just sit there silently?!" He spat as he turned around to face her. "You loved her!"

"You were not alone in your grief, my son." The queen bowed her head and quietly sighed, "You have to understand when to let it go."

Bracken's fists clenched until his knuckles became as white as snow. "I think there's a chance to save Seth. All I need is some assistance."

"You ask for an army," Her sharp gaze cut him down to size for a moment, "If you lead that army into battle to rescue your friend it will be an act of war." She motioned around her and to the large open window that overlooked their newly built country, "You would risk all this, the lives of your people, for a chance."

"A chance that's worth it and a risk I'm willing to take." Bracken said, walking away across the white marble floor and down the stairs.

"You are a fool," His mother wearily lamented. She looked behind her shoulder at her son as he strode out the door past the guards.

Bracken felt his anger dissipate by the time he reached the fountain at the center of the city. He breathed in the scent of moonlight on pearls that blew off the fountain's waters and sat down on a stone bench nearby.

He relaxed slightly and leaned back, his silver hair nearly touching the curtain of water behind him. He closed his eyes and tried to sooth his blood lust with the image of his dearest Adalyn. But the figure that appearing in the darkness was Seth. Anxiety seized Bracken's mind again and he could no longer relax.

_A blood-covered hand holding a beautiful pearly white horn hung out of the jaws of the titanic black dragon. The serrated teeth dug deeper into her flesh, a pleading scream rung through the thick, dark air as Bracken looked on in horror. He tried to move, but he couldn't. The metal straps that bound him to the obsidian throne held tight against his anguished struggling. Navarog transformed back into its human form, an attractive young man wearing a cruel smile. He unsheathed a dagger from his side and grabbed the girl he dropped from his maw by her hair. He jerked her head upwards and forced her to look him in the eyes; he lightly dragged the weapon over her throat teasingly, drawing a thin line of blood. The horn in the girl's hand transformed into a gleaming sword, she began to lift it, but the hand that held the dagger struck it away, Navarog then stabbed the knife into her sword arm. She screamed in pain and her knees gave out, but the dragon caught her by her waist and dragged her closer to the obsidian throne. Bracken watched in horror as the dagger was drove, again and again, into her heart. Her blood poured from her multiple wounds and seeped from the edges of her mouth. _

"_NO!"_

Bracken's eyes snapped open and he choked in deep breaths of air; that was in the past, it had to stay there. He looked down to his lap, his hands were shaking.

"My prince?"

He jumped a little at the deep voice that came from his side; he whipped his head to the side and saw an Astrid kneeling at his side.

"Elovar." Bracken identified the warrior at his side.

"Are you alright?" The soldier questioned while still maintaining respect in his voice.

"Yes," Bracken lied. He stood up and smiled at the Astrid. "I thank you for your concern." He began to walk off when Elovar called out to him telepathically.

_I would have followed you into that place, my prince._

Bracken stopped and looked over his shoulder.

_I fear invoking the wrath of the Queen, please understand. _

Bracken nodded slightly and kept walking; he understood the Astrid's reason for holding back. All around him looks of pity, longing, and worry were shot in his direction by the fairy creatures of his kingdom. Bracken gritted his teeth against the stares.

"_The prince gave his horn up to lock the demons away in Zzyx."_

"_Some good that did! The demons are in our home land right now thanks to those weak seals!"_

"_How can he lead us? He doesn't act like a unicorn."_

"_Are you sure he's the son of the Fairy Queen? He looks weak."_

"_Didn't all his siblings die?"_

"_Yeah, now he's the only one left to succeed the throne."_

"_Pity." _

"_I heard he was imprisoned twice, once by one of the weaker demon princes and the other time by a mere human!"_

"_He's spent too much time with humans; he's grown too attached to them."_

Bracken made it to the pool without giving in to his human emotions and dove in, escaping to Fablehaven.


	16. Chapter 16

Gavin held absolutely still, not even breathing. Kendra and her father waited apprehensively anticipating his answer. The quiet held for a moment more until the front door opened and Bracken came in, looking stern.

"That will be enough," He said firmly.

Gavin tensed and turned his gaze to Bracken, his eyes pained. "I didn't mean to,"

"I know." Bracken sighed; he held his hand out to Kendra, helping her to her feet. He looked down at Kendra with a soft smile, "May I speak with you?" Gavin clambered to his feet, using the coffee table as support.

Kendra shrugged, "Sure."

"I mean alone." Bracken said quietly, giving her hand a squeeze.

Both Gavin and Kendra's father looked like they were going to say something when Kendra's mother hurried into the room and looked around, "I heard yelling, is everyone alright?"

She noticed Bracken and smiled, "Oh, hello Bracken! Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Would you like to stay forever?" Gavin snorted sarcastically under his breath, rolling his eyes.

Bracken sent a glare to the dragon and turned to Marla with a gracious smile, "I would, thank you. Is there time for me and Kendra to go on a short walk before?"

"Yes, you will have about thirty minutes."

"Great," He looked back to Kendra, "You coming?"

She nodded and walked with him to the door; Kendra looked back at Gavin and smiled, "I'll be back in thirty minutes."

The door closed behind them and Bracken began walking, pulling Kendra along behind him. She noticed the hand the held hers shook slightly, she gave his hand a tug and when he looked back at her she asked, "Are you alight?"

He opened his mouth but no sound came out, he looked down to their hands and smiled, "I don't know."

"Are you upset?" Kendra guessed, studying his fair face for signs of depression.

"Yes." He said at length, and then laughed airily, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes and looking up at the barely-light sky washed with the colors of sunset. He looked back down at her with his eyes full of tears. He gripped her shoulders and smiled as he said, "All will become clear, just trust me."

All she could do was nod numbly as he dragged her along to the dock that stood on the edge of the grass in the grotto. She looked down to the boards and realized it was just like the time when she had been waiting excitedly for him after the Zzyx crisis had been cleaned up. He had appeared here, and surprised her. It was a happy reunion, but this time, the mood was grim and the lighting dark.

He turned around to face her once more, his silver hair catching the faint starlight's glow, her heart pounded hard for a moment before she mentally shook herself.

_He doesn't love me like that or anything. So calm down. Stop. _

"Do you trust me, Kendra?"

The question came out of nowhere; it took her a second to respond, "Of course!"

He looked sidelong at her, "You hesitated."

"I didn't!"

"You did. Would you hesitate to answer if I asked you if you love me?"

She looked up at him and directly into his eyes, she blushed and fidgeted, "Well, that's…"

"Do you at least love me more than that demon-dragon?"

Kendra thought for a second, her heart at war with itself. Bracken was very important to her, and she couldn't deny he made her feel safe and she admired him so, but on the other hand Gavin sparked within her feelings that were fundamentally different. While Bracken had been passive about his feelings, Gavin had not held back.

All the feelings and pain bottled up inside and pushed to the back of her mind came rushing out in the form of tears, "What about you? Don't you love me?!" Kendra cried, angrily wiping tears from her face, "Did you ever have feelings for me? Tell me the truth."

"Never romantic feelings, Kendra." Bracken tried to put a hand on her arm, but she smacked his hand away. "Not all love is romantic, Kendra. I love you, but I can't give you the type of love you expect of me." He bowed his head, "I'm sorry."

Her cheeks flushed an angry pink, "What about when you said you would wait for me to grow up a little? And to see where the future would lead?"

Bracken looked back up at her, dead in the eyes, with the same sad, seriousness. "I was talking about when you were ready to know the truth. The Fairy queen and I agreed that you weren't ready yet, but I still wanted to see you, to keep you safe from harm."

"What don't I know?" Kendra stated bitterly, folding her arms protectively over her chest. "Gavin said something about me dying; does this have something to do with that?"

"That is part of it," Bracken brushed a stray lock of hair from her tear-stained face, "Though," He smiled painfully; "I wish it weren't."

Kendra gripped the hand nearest to her face and cried, "I want to know; what am I to you?!"

Bracken coaxed her other hand out from under her arm and held it softly, looking at her with such tenderness that she thought she might melt away, "You are my dearest-"

The memory came unexpectedly from the depths of her own mind, enveloping her in its warm comfort and taking her far into the past.

_A wide, blue sky was above her, flowers waved in the slight breeze around her head. She felt so calm, so relaxed. Then she heard a joyful shout, she turned her head and saw a silver haired young man running over and beaming at her with the most beautiful smile. She smiled back; she was so glad that this person loved her, he was so special. _

"_Bracken? What is it?" She asked, reaching a hand up to touch his face. _

_He grinned down at her and placed a flower crown on her head, "Here, this is for you, because you are my dearest-" _

"Sister." Kendra whispered in realization.

Bracken nodded and brought her closer to him, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Yes, Sister, I am so happy you know the truth." He held her close, his lips curved in a loving smile, but his eyes still sad.

His expression turned grave as he looked down at her, stroking her cheek. "You must understand that you can never go back to Morgana's realm."

"I died there." Kendra said blankly. "That's what Gavin said."

He embraced her tightly; placing is chin on the top of her head, "I am not sure you are ready to see how you died." His shoulders shook a little, "It was horrible." He gave her a gentle squeeze, "I don't want you to remember that kind of pain, yet I want to show you what kind of a monster Navarog truly is."

"Gavin was there?"

Bracken nodded slowly and breathed out on her hair, "He was the one who killed you."

Kendra felt the world give in around her. "What?"


	17. Chapter 17

**Alright, I have noticed that some of you seem a bit confused as to the starting point of this story. Allow me to clarify, there is, in fact, a prequel. And this is, in fact, a sequel. If you would be so kind as to stop here if you have not read the previous installment of Swords of the Eternals and do so I would be much obliged. **

**STOP NOW: READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ SWORDS OF THE ETERNALS: AGELESS. **

**Thank you. (It should be on my profile page, I'm sorry for yelling.)**

* * *

Seth blinked in the sudden light and curled up into a tight ball. Days of being surrounded by darkness left him venerable to the new harsh light. As he covered his eyes he thought,

_Am I out? Where am I?_

A small hand suddenly alighted on his head. He flinched and looked up at the person quickly. A girl smiled back at him, her three eyes squeezing tight in happiness as she smoothed his hair with her hand.

"You will get out alright," She said warmly in the language Roshanak had been speaking. Her skin was indeed the same light blue as Roshanak's and her eyes and the same indigo. Her short purple hair swished in an unfelt wind, her white sundress moved as if touched by a slight breeze. He couldn't feel the wind, but he could feel her hand petting his head and comforting him.

"Who are you?" He croaked, his voice sounded pained, he winced, lifting his head.

She seemed to think for a second, and then smiled brightly, "A friend!"

Slowly, the background began to come into focus, the trees' leaves rustles in the wind while he still felt nothing. He looked up and found his back resting against a tree trunk. He looked up, and at the tree house; this was Fablehaven.

He tried to stand, but lacked the energy. She saw him struggle and patted his arm,

"Best not to get up, this isn't really your home."

Seth frowned in confusion and tried once more to sit up, but this time his vision went blurry with pain.

The little Jinn girl looked like she wanted to say something, but a call came from over near the main house.

"Rox!"

Seth stopped trying to get up and just watched. The young man jogged closer and knelt down next to the girl and took her hand. He grinned, and Seth was taken aback, he knew that face, he knew it because that's what looked back at him when he looked in the mirror! Only this version of him was older by a few years, he was maybe eighteen or nineteen.

"Guess what I have?" The older Seth asked the Jinn, she shook her head, her cute little pixie-cut hair shaking around.

"I don't know!" She giggled.

Older Seth pulled out a small brass spy-glass from one of his many pockets on his black leather jacket and handed it to her. "They say you can see something that is two hundred miles away with this!"

Rox took it and gasped happily and looked through it, "Wherever did you get it?"

Seth the Elder cracked a grin and told the story of how he swiped it from the lair of a Sea Witch in the Atlantic Ocean while on his way to visit Kendra in the Fairy Kingdom. He stopped to tickle the girl once while describing the 'terrible nasty wicthy witch!' which caused her to dissolve into fits of laughter. And Seth noted that he referenced Kendra as 'Her Majesty, Princess of Fairies, your very own Auntie, Kendra.'

_So she marries Bracken…_ Seth thought, a pang of pain shot through his heart, he gritted his teeth. _Why am I upset that she marries him? I can't just sprout feelings for him out of the blue like that! That's just…_

He was reminded of the time Bracken had kissed him in the tree house the day he left, and he once again wished he knew why Bracken had done that. It made him feel so confused. All those times when Bracken had made Seth feel better, or tried to. When Bracken looked to him to explain a joke or when he tread to crack one himself. Bracken was always giving it his all to see Seth safe and happy, and that made Seth feel….

_I don't know? What?!_

He looked back to the scene before him of the older version of him and the girl. Rox was sitting in the grass now, playing with the spyglass as the older version of him sat back and contentedly watched the girl. But after a while the older Seth seemed to be lost in thought, gazing out at nothing, buried in his own thoughts.

"I'm sure he's still alive Papa." Rox suddenly said, bringing both Seth and his older counterpart out of their thoughts.

'_Papa'?! I have a kid?! When I'm… eighteen?!_ Seth thought, panicking. _Wait, no. She's too old to be my kid. Right, get it together, Seth! She's adopted; you're a nut-case!_

"I didn't say anything, Roxxie." Older-Seth said, bemused at the little girl's prediction.

"You don't have to." She said, holding the spy-glass still in her hands, "I just know." She looked back up at him from her lap and exclaimed, "And I know Bracken's alive, so don't worry about it!"

"Right, Kiddo." The older Seth chuckled and ruffled her hair, just as Seth's father had done to him years ago.

"Wait!" Seth cried desperately, "What do you mean?" He tried to wave his arms frantically and catch his own attention, "Is Bracken alright?!"

The older him paid him no mind and shifted his attention back to nothing as Rox turned to look at him.

"He can't hear you, and he doesn't know you're here." She smiled and touched Seth's forehead, "You have heard enough, maybe too much, but enough." She waved to him as he fell backwards into darkness, "Bye bye!"


	18. Chapter 18

"I can't believe that he would hurt me now," Kendra said, "Gavin feels… I don't know… more honest."

Bracken looked unconvinced and even pained, "He always tricks people like that, he is unbelievably good at lying and blending in with humans, whilst I, I am honest and awkward with people, not just humans."

Kendra sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, "So I'm your sister?"

"One of them, yes." Bracken nodded ruefully, "There were three others."

"_Were_?" Kendra questioned, getting a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Bracken squeezed his eyes closed and then opened them forcibly, awakening the memories. "Our oldest sister, Ellia, gave her life force up to save the Fairy Realm thousands and thousands of years ago, our second oldest sister, Dessera, was hunted down and killed by vengeful Blixes, the third oldest, Cassandra, incased herself in a magic crystal and is locked in an enchanted sleep."

He brushed a lock of hair that had fallen into her eyes and smiled, "And my dearest younger sister fell rescuing her hopeless and hornless older brother from that dark place." He said bitterly and looked out to the centre of the lake to the shrine.

"You aren't hopeless!" Kendra attested, "You are pretty powerful,"

Bracken laughed self-depreciatively, "Not so powerful as any of my sisters, even when I had my third horn. As a unicorn, my powers were already considered weak, and when I gave up what I did have, everyone cast me out."

He looked back down at her, "But not you; you never shunned me, the hornless unicorn, the shame of the Fairy Kingdom."

"You didn't seem like the shame of the Fairy Kingdom to me." Kendra said, remembering the Demon War, "They seemed like they respected you."

He nodded, "They were desperate, the Queen was present, and I had a plan they could use."

"But aren't you next in line for the throne?" She blushed, thinking of the Fairy Queen, "I mean, if your mother isn't able to rule anymore?"

Bracken shook his head, "I have no chance of being King, and we don't have such a thing in our Kingdom. My sisters, including you, are all in line before me, even before my horn was taken away."

"Even now?"

He heaved a heavy sigh and held up his hands in helplessness, "I just came back from asking the Fairy Queen for aid to rescue Seth, I was turned down. The people won't follow me and risk incurring the Queen's wrath."

Kendra gasped, "She won't help?!"

"It could cause war to break out between the Shadow Realm and the Fairy Kingdom; she does not want to risk that."

Kendra nodded and felt firm resolve form in her, "Will she listen to me?"

Bracken cringed and shrugged, "I doubt it," He regarded her downcast expression for a moment before an idea sparked in his mind, "But the people might listen to you,"

"What?" Kendra blurted at this unexpected input.

"If we can sway the general populace, our mother's wrath may become forgotten!" He said excitedly, beginning to grin.

Kendra waved her arm toward the Fairy Shrine and huffed, "Wouldn't that be a little like… I don't know… Disobedience towards your mother?"

"Yeah," Bracken said, calming down from his moment of glee. He looked at Kendra's curious expression and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry for involving you in my scheme."

"But you'd be willing to break the rules?" Kendra asked,

Bracken laughed, "I've done it before, why not again?! But this time, I've got a good reason." He looked up at the stars and his eyes grew distant.

"Seth is a pretty good reason." She said, breaking his meditation. He turned back to her with a soft smile, but she cut him off with a sudden glare, "He's my little brother, and I never thought I'd be saying this, but you'd better not break his heart, or I'll make every day of your life miserable. Got it?"

Bracken paled for a second and then chuckled nervously, "You have my word, but I'm not so sure Seth likes me back."

Kendra shrugged, "Your problem, not mine," Bracken looked tearful as Kendra began to walk away down the pier, but she turned around and smiled, "But I'm here to listen to you, because that's what siblings are for."

Bracken nodded thankfully, feeling so much more relived and free, he took Kendra's hand and grinned, "Do you mind if we walk back like this? Addie?"

Kendra laughed and stood on tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek, "Come on, Brother, let's go home."

They walked back to the house as the fireflies and fairies began to glow in the summer nighttime.


	19. Chapter 19

As consciousness crept up on Seth, he realized he was floating in darkness and no longer in the black throne above the lake. He panicked, but then remembered that he didn't need to; the lake felt more a part of him now, and not a brutal and strange force. He looked around as he breathed easily; searching for that presence he had once spoken to. He felt it odd that whatever was in the lake knew him, or at least him from some other life.

_Who is this Avitus? And what does he have to do with me? _He thought, looking back up to the surface.

_I can answer you part of that question. _

The presence once again filled his mind, but Seth remained in control of his voice and thoughts. He steeled his mind and concentrated on keeping his mind blocked.

_Are you a friend of his?_

There was a pause then the voice spoke up.

_I have had some dealings with him in the past. I do not feel hatred, as I am more than human emotions, but I felt something close to it when I first met him. But I grew, over time, to favor him. I was very… intrigued with this man, who had become 'more'. This is the only way to describe it to you. He should have died nine times, but he came back ten. He sold his soul three times, and retained it thrice. _

_He sounds pretty cool. _Seth commented, impressed. _Did he have a collection of zombie hands?_

… _Why would I know of something so trivial? _The voice scoffed.

Seth snorted quietly to himself in amusement at how the voice sounded so… stuck up about something so small.

_I shall show you one of my deals with him, and you may understand more. _

Seth didn't have time to nod before the scene overtook him and he found himself standing on the edge of a fiery chasm, he didn't feel the heat, but he knew it must be roasting. He saw someone step up next to him, and he looked to his right, a man in his mid-twenties with olive-toned skin and dark hair stood looking down into the pit with mild interest.

He didn't seem to be affected by the heat at all, but Seth noticed an armlet on the man's arm that seemed to be glowing with magic. The man was in fact wearing quite a lot of jewelry, which was a stark contrast to the travel-stained black toga and cloak he wore.

The man peered over the ledge and shrugged, "Doesn't look too dangerous."

_Be careful, you stupid Master! _A voice cried from farther away, Seth turned hopefully and saw that far away, hiding behind a giant rock, was a small shadow. Mi'aiq!

The man turned back and laughed, he cupped a hand to his mouth and called out to his worried companion, "I'll be fine! I think in the end this will be a fine tale to tell!"

_Idiot!... _Mi'aiq muttered and slunk back into his shadow.

The man chuckled and turned back to the ledge. "Perhaps I will get a trophy to bring back home! Another hand would be nice… I recently got one from the corpse of a pharaoh of Egypt, and that other one from the Amazons." He nodded in firm resolve. "I threw my first undead hand away from me in panic, I should have kept it. But no matter!"

Seth gagged and blanked out. _He sounds exactly like me!..._

"Alright then!" The man said, clapping his hands and becoming serious, _"Hell, I summon you!"_

Seth knew he was no longer speaking the language he was speaking before, but could somehow still understand it. He wondered if they were speaking in Latin, he seemed to be, or something like that.

The fires erupted before Seth got to think more, however, and the great voice that had spoken to him in the darkness of the lake boomed,

"_WHAT BUISNESS DOES A MORTAL HAVE WITH THE FATHER OF MONSTERS, THE DAMNATION OF SINNERS, AND THE PRISION OF SOULS"_

"My name is Avitus." The man began, bowing respectfully against the terrifying unseen menace. "And I have come to ask about the true name of a certain demon, one of your children, I believe."

_So this is Avitus…_ Seth thought, a little awed.

"_HAVE YOU A TRADE FOR THIS INFORMATION"_

Avitus brought his hand up and then down quickly, and a cut that seemed to be of the fabric of the universe was ripped in the air. Out of the darkness a giant stumbled, it had one large eye in the middle of its forehead that squinted against the light that emanated from the chasm.

"_ONE CYCLOPS, YOU INSULT ME." _

Soon following the one giant came two other Cyclopes both shackled to each other and the first. And after a slight pause, a slightly glowing figure appeared from the tear. He was crying and pleading, but could do nothing, his chains were obviously magic, and he was having trouble undoing them.

"_A LESSER GOD AND THREE CYCLOPES; YOUR OFFERINGS ARE INDEED SUITABLE, BUT IT IS LCKING IN POWER. WHAT YOU SEEK IS A VERY DANGEROUS WEAPON, THE DISTRUCTION OF ONE OF MY KIN, GRANTED I CAN EASILY GIVE IT TO YOU, BUT I MUST FIRST KNOW IF YOU CAN CONTROL MUCH POWER"_

Avitus flicked his fingers and the hole closed up again, "I am going to use his name to-"

"_I CARE NOT WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO DO WITH IT" _

Avitus shut his mouth and pursed his lips in thought, "I will demonstrate my power to the best of my abilities, as you wish." He paused again in thought and once more raised his hands; the lesser god and the Cyclopes cringed back in dread as Seth leaned forward and watched him closely.

It was slight at first, then Seth felt the immense power swelling from the very earth and the shadows that lie around the craggy rocks and cracks in the stone. Then an unearthly howl was unleashed from everywhere. Seth waited in the dead silence that followed, chilled and thrilled to the core, excitement raced down his spine in a shiver and he felt certain that one day he would gain the power to do that.

Suddenly a hand smashed down on the ground between his feet, and a burning arm followed, the charred creature lifted itself out of the chasm and smoldered, lumbering out of its grave. Seth took a step back but the creature passed right through him. The first body was followed by others, and Seth heard their voices;

_Free! Air! Cold! Wind! Sky! Master! Thank you! Free at last!_

They kept coming, crawling and clambering from the fiery pit and clawing each other to get to Avitus.

_These are souls from Hell, they're sinners._ Seth realized with shock. _Yet they sound so_… innocent_…_ _they don't sound evil at all, and they sound thankful and relived and… _

Avitus turned his hand down and all of the sinner's black, charred, burning bodies crumbled and blew away into ash. Seth choked in disbelief; their voices were gone with not so much as a dying scream. He had no words to explain it, the souls that had been there, were now… gone. Just gone.

Avitus' eyes were dark and unchanging, Seth found himself no longer admiring the man as much, he just destroyed human souls without hesitation!

"_YOU IMPUDENT HUMAN!"_

The vice from the chasm roared,

"_THOSE ARE SOULS BELONGING TO ME!"_

"Not anymore." Avitus said coolly, "They are now free."

"_YOU MAY THINK THAT IS FREEDOM, BUT NOT SO. YOU HAVE DISSRUPTED THE CYCLE"_

Avitus looked up to the stars that shone clearly in the dark sky, "Not so," He sighed, "The Gods are ever making new souls. And besides," He said, looking back down to the cavern, "Those poor people have suffered eons of torture, have a little mercy."

"_AND YOU WOULD RATHER BE OBLITTERATED THAN TORMENTED FOR ETERNITY"_

Seth wasn't sure which he would rather take, so he looked to Avitus to say something clarifying and certain.

"I think so?" Avitus said questioningly, looking quite unsure and clueless and suddenly a lot younger than he had looked a moment ago.

"Stop acting dumb! I just saw you freaking raise the dead and then abolish their souls for all eternity! At least have some certainty!" Seth yelled at Avitus, even though he thought the Shadow Charmer couldn't hear him.

Avitus suddenly looked around, startled, and his eyes settled on Seth, whom he couldn't see. But he could sense his soul.

_He heard me?! Holy-?!_

Avitus then grinned in Seth's vague direction and turned back to the chasm, "Well, I know my soul won't be in Hell nor in Oblivion. I trust it is in good hands."

"_YOU SOUND SO SURE"_

"Do you want a wager?" Avitus chuckled,

"_THIS SOUNDS INTRIGUING, WHAT DID YOU HAVE IN MIND"_

Avitus smiled secretly, "I bet that my soul will never go to Hell, and that it will never be destroyed. In return you will reveal the true name of Haniket the demon and two other favors from you."

"…_BUT IF YOU LOSE THE WAGER, YOUR SOUL SHALL BE MINE FOR ALL ETERNITY."_

"To do with what you wish." Avitus finished with a bow.

"_I ACCEPT."_

There was a tremor in the earth once more, and a feeling of a heavy weight pressed down on Seth's chest. He looked down at it then back up to Avitus, who had turned to him and winked,

"I leave the rest to you," He laughed,

Seth suddenly felt the darkness tugging at the back of his mind, the blackness of the lake stole the scene from him before he could form the words he wanted to say most, _'What do you mean?!'_


	20. Chapter 20

After dinner Kendra, Bracken, and Gavin all sat down next to the couch with the copied floor plans of the palace and peach cobbler.

Kendra smoothed out her piece of paper that she was using to keep track of the people they had for their cause, "Right! Dad, Warren, Jin, Vanessa, and Mike are the humans we have so far, we have Bracken, and Raxtus volunteered to fly them. How do we get them to your mother's realm?"

Gavin shuddered and readjusted him arm under his head as he lay on the couch. "That's a problem all right; we need a metal ring large enough to fit a small dragon through, and preferably one with a base so it's stable. Now, I know many of these were made hundreds and hundreds of year ago, but I'm not sure if any still exist or if they are easily acquirable."

At the mention of hundreds of years Kendra once again realized that there was a huge age difference between her and the guy she liked. Some part of her had refused to let go of Bracken, but now that was over. Now she felt like she was in danger falling for the demon prince Navarog.

Bracken leaned forward on his feet and looked at Kendra, "All of these metal rings had a seal stamped into the bottom; I will be able to recognize it on sight. Do you know any junkies or hoarders? They might be our best lead."

Kendra thought hard about the people she knew, "We might have something like that in the attic, we have all sorts of stuff in there…"

"That's a possibility." Bracken mused.

For some reason a cave cluttered of junk kept flashing through her mind, but she could put a finger on what it was. Then it clicked,

"Nero!" She exclaimed, "The troll Nero, he has a bunch of metal things in his cave!" She turned to Bracken, "Do you think he could have something like that?"

Bracken shrugged and nodded to Gavin, "Ask him, he is more acquainted with trolls than I am."

Gavin's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "Thanks, Bracken old buddy."

"Don't call me that." Bracken laughed, the tension building again.

"Well?" Kendra repeated, looking at Gavin for an answer.

He shifted his eyes to her and looked unsure, "It's more likely to be in the attic of this house than there, but it's worth a try."

Bracken nodded in agreement, "We should check both places."

"Yeah," Kendra agreed, and stood up, suddenly feeling tired she yawned. "Can we do it tomorrow? I'm really worn out from today."

Bracken stood with her and gave her a hug, "Yes, get your rest. We'll continue working in the morning." Over her shoulder Bracken and Gavin glared at each other.

Gavin mouthed; y_ou incestuous, lying equine._

Bracken mimed back; _you have no right to look at her._

Kendra relinquished her hold on Bracken and hugged Gavin. Navarog smirked triumphantly at Bracken before Kendra let go and said her 'goodnights'.

As she headed up the stairs to the attic room, Bracken grabbed Gavin by the throat and shook the demon on the couch.

"You stay away from her." He growled, eyes flashing coldly.

Gavin ripped Bracken's fingers off his neck and snapped, "What right do you have over her? You're just her brother."

Bracken tensed and spat, "That's exactly why."

Gavin stood and pushed Bracken back a step, "Is her body, mind, and heart yours then?! If you are her brother, does that all automatically land in your care?"

Bracken was taken aback for a minute as Gavin's words sunk into him.

"What she does is up to her, and she belongs to no one but herself." Gavin grabbed his coat off the couch and folded it under his arm, "Thank about that, your Royal Horseness." He mock-bowed and walked away with an elaborate hand flourish, "By your leave,"

As Kendra finished her nightly rituals and climbed into bed she realized that so much had been revealed to her over the course of a single day. But her only thought as she drifted to sleep was, _'I'd better do my best tomorrow for everyone… and work on the secret plans before anyone notices…' _


	21. Chapter 21

Seth felt both his hands close on something as he woke, as he blinked the sleep from his eyes he found himself resting in Roshanak's cave with bandages wrapped around her chest. In his hands were the dark horn and the cursed dagger. Seth gasped and flung both away from him reflexively and heard them clatter away as he closed his eyes in revulsion.

_How did they get down here?_ He thought, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.

Eventually he crawled over to where the horn lay and picked the spiral up and looked at it closely. It pulsed with dark energy almost… happily at his touch. Seth's eyes widened, it seemed alive somehow, kind of like a part of him. Had he felt this way before? He couldn't remember. He realized that didn't matter, but there was something else he was supposed to remember, something from the past…

A mug with a black liquid was pushed under his nose, and he was brought back to his senses by the smell of the coffee-like drink. Seth looked over to Roshanak and took the mug,

"Thanks, um… How did I get here?" He asked bashfully looking down at his bandaged chest "Did you-?"

She nodded silently and pointed to the drink. Seth looked back down at the mug and exclaimed, "Oh, right!" and promptly downed the contents. After doing so his chest hurt less and he had more energy. Roshanak took the mug from him and refilled it, placing it back in his hands she spoke in her own language that Seth now had an understanding of.

"I found your body floating in the lake nearby, I took you up here before the neighbors got too curious."

"Thanks again." Seth said, catching himself finding similarities between Rox and Roshanak, the three indigo irises, the same color skin. He knew they both had to be Jinn, so it made him wonder even more if they knew each other.

"You have the Dark Horn of Melkor the Fallen with you." She said, breaking the silence.

Seth snapped out of it and parroted her, "The Dark Horn of Melkor the Fallen?"

She nodded, her ankle chains clinking as she shifted her legs into a more comfortable position. "He was once a unicorn like any other, but there was one thing he lacked."

"His horn?" Seth guessed, it interrupting the story. Roshanak nodded, seeming not to care about the input.

"Yes, He had lost his third horn it is said." She took a sip from her own weathered mug in her hand and continued, "So he searched the world for a wizard or warlock powerful enough to construct an exact copy. No one could do it, it seemed, so he was about to give up… But he met a very powerful Shadow Charmer."

Seth felt his jaw drop in astonishment, the pieces were coming together in his mind, "Was his name Avitus?!"

Once more she nodded, "You know of the Great Shadow-Bringer?"

Seth gulped, clearing his now-sticky throat, "Uh, yeah… I think," He said remembering Avitus' reaction to hearing and sensing him, "That I might be him."

Roshanak's eyes widened and she grabbed his hand and put it up to her third eye in the middle of her forehead, when she was done doing what she wanted to she let his hand go, looking shaken.

"I believe you; indeed you seem to be telling the truth."

Seth nodded, waiting for her to freak out, but the old Jinn never did, "And Shadow-Bringer, is that a nickname of his?"

"Yes, now back to the tale. As the story goes Melkor begged Avitus to make an exact copy of his third horn. The Shadow Charmer warned the unicorn of the risks, but Melkor wouldn't listen. Avitus accepted the challenge and made a perfect copy of Melkor's third horn, and once the unicorn touched it, he became more and more tainted.

He was pure before the horn had touched him, and Avitus realized his mistake and tried to take the horn back, but Melkor evaded him for years. Finally after the evil of the horn and its master had lain waste to the known world, Avitus got close enough to take it and seal the dark taint on the unicorn himself."

She leaned back and breathed a sigh, "And that is the story of The Dark Horn as I know it."

Seth breathed regularly once again and realized he had been holding it when she had been telling the story, "Melkor was pure before, and he's 'sealed' now?"

Roshanak began coughing violently and couldn't seem to breathe, Seth panicked and crawled over to pat and rub her on the back with one hand and grab the water jug on the small table nearby to pour her a cup. She took the water and sipped it, her cough gradually faded and Seth relaxed.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking at her worriedly,

She waved his worry away with her wither fingers, "I am old, and I feel my time to fade away coming soon."

"Don't die!" Seth cried, feeling a pang of intense anxiety, "I really like you!" He said quickly without thinking, "Well, that is…" He sputtered, flustered now.

She smiled and patted his head, "It is alright, I like you too, Seth." She put the cup down and became serious once more, "Yes, he is sealed away, he can only be set free unless you give the command. In a way," She said thoughtfully, "He is bound to you, and should come if you call him."

Seth nodded, thinking, "Could be useful for our jailbreak."

"What is this you speak of?"

Seth grinned and placed his hands on his hips, "I'm talking about breaking out of here." He leaned forward and lowered his voice to a murmur, "Are you in?"

She rubbed her weary temples with her long fingers and sighed, "First we will need an army, follow me."

* * *

**(Sorry, I couldn't help myself...)**

**The creator of the Dark Horn is really Avitus, who is really Seth, who can possibly call a former dark unicorn to his aid during a jailbreak of epic proportions! Stay tuned Knights of the Dawn, for chapter 22!**


	22. Chapter 22

Kendra woke up in the middle of the night feeling parched and cold, she got out of bed and grabbed a robe from her closet and slipped it on over her pajamas. She looked to her nightstand and at the glass that usually rested there.

"Ugh…" She groaned as she opened her door and went to go downstairs for a glass of water.

"When are you going to tell her?" Gavin's voice came from the darkness of the living room, talking to an unknown listener.

Kendra froze halfway down the stairs and getting the impression that it was a private conversation, decided to go back up the stairs.

"You were exiled out of the Fairy Kingdom before you were imprisoned, she doesn't know that now, but who's to say she won't ever find out. She'll ask questions about you, you know?"

"I know."

_Bracken? _

Kendra snuck back down the stairs quietly, knowing that eavesdropping wasn't polite, but the subject of their conversation was partially about her, and it was _those two_, so she decided to keep quiet and listen.

"So what are you going to do about it? And what are you going to do with the Dark Horn? Use it to call your dark brother?"

There was a sudden bang, and Bracken hissed, "I would only use it under the direst circumstances!"

"Which would be now, wouldn't it? And its use is especially fitting to rescue its maker… such a twist of fate, no?"

"Seth is nothing like the maker of _that thing_." He said the words as if they burned his mouth.

Kendra could almost picture Gavin studying Bracken with dark eyes and shaking his head, "They are one and the same, and you know it. When did you figure it out?"

"When Mi'aiq called him 'Avitus'. I was in denial at first, but when I touched the Dark Horn and felt it try to overtake me, I knew it sensed the presence of its creator."

Kendra frowned and rocked forward a step. _Who is 'Avitus'? He made the Dark Horn, and he's Seth?! _The next step down creaked loudly and she flinched. Seconds later Bracken and Gavin were looking up at her from the base of the stairs with blank expressions.

"How much did you hear?" Bracken asked, pained.

"N-not much!" Kendra panicked. "Just Seth and Dark Horn and Avitus! And things like that, not that I understand…" She ended mumbling.

Gavin sighed and came up next to her and picked her up unexpectedly, "Since you're here, let's all talk together and make no efforts to _hide anything_." He carried Kendra down to the couch and set her down on it, then sat down next to her.

Bracken came over to stand across from the couch, and he looked pained as he began speaking, "Look, Kendra, you're not the only one in your family that is a reincarnated soul; Seth is too."

She nodded, "He's this Avitus, right?" She said, referring to their earlier conversation.

"Yes," Bracken said. "He was the same person who created the Dark Horn."

"The Dark Horn was created?"

"Yes," Bracken said again, and after a pause continued, "Melkor the Fallen had it made to replace his third horn, which was lost to him."

"Will he come looking for it?" Kendra asked, her voice becoming a fearful whisper.

Gavin's eyes shifted to Bracken and watched the unicorn twitch, "Most likely not. It is rumored that he is locked away in the very dungeon where your brother is." Bracken said, looking back at Kendra, "I never crossed paths with him in the duration of my stay, so I cannot say for sure."

Gavin shrugged as well, "I don't know all the prisoners that are down there, so I don't know either."

They sat in silence for a minute until Kendra got up and went into the kitchen for a glass of water, as she was doing that Gavin and Bracken looked at each other silently as they continued in mind-to-mind communication.

_If we have to talk to each other, it is better to speak like this. _Bracken said mentally.

Gavin nodded and gave him a skeptical look. _I will respect your free will to tell her what you want, but why didn't you tell her the whole truth?_

Bracken looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists. _She doesn't need to know. _

_I was surprised you didn't lie, though. _Gavin said, reclining on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. _You just told her of the rumors, are you afraid of scaring her? I know you keep tabs on the Dark Unicorn, are you afraid of telling her that he is so close?_

_None of your business. _Bracken brushed off his comment.

Gavin leaned forward once more and looked at Bracken seriously. _It is my business; Kendra's safety depends on this. What are you going to do when he gets here?_

_I don't intend to let harm come to Kendra._

_So you don't have a plan. _Gavin snorted out loud at his own bluntness.

_I do have a plan, it's just that-_

_What?_

They glared at each other with obvious contempt as Kendra silently watched them from the side of the room, rolling her eyes. She was gone for a minute and already they start the stare down, they were just like little kids.

"I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning!" She said, breaking the tension.

"Wait!" Bracken called to her before she went up the stairs.

"What?" She asked, turning around.

"Just to be safe, where is the Dark Horn?" He asked, wondering if she knew its whereabouts.

Kendra looked hesitant, and her eyes shifted up the stairs, "It's under Seth's bed in his emergency kit, which is really just a cereal box. It sticks out a lot, so you would be able to see it if you just crouch next to the bed…why?"

"No reason, just checking." Bracken said lightly, smiling reassuringly. "Good night!"

She looked skeptical, but smiled and said, "Good night."

Once she was gone Gavin lay down on the couch he was using as a bed and adjusted the pillow he was using under his head. As Bracken was leaving, his hand on the doorknob, Gavin's low chuckle stopped him dead in his tracks,

"_You dirty liar." _


	23. Chapter 23

In the morning Jin arrived, luggage in hand with spirits in tow. She looked at Kendra with obvious contempt but sighed and sat down next to her to eat breakfast. Kendra's dad came into the kitchen with his arms full of tubes, wires, tooth paste, mountain dew, a backpack, three lighters, and some other dangerous-looking household appliances.

"Hey Kiddo!" He called to Kendra, then saw Jin, "Hey, how's your nose?" He nodded to her face with his head.

Jin stiffened and touched her nose, "Fine."

Scott grinned and readjusted the equipment in his arms, "I'll take your word for it, and I've got to get help from my wife with the construction of this-"

"Scott!" Marla called from the living room, "We're going to work in the dungeon!"

Kendra's father swung around at the sound of his wife's voice, "Coming, Darling!" Then he winked at Kendra and sped off.

Jin gave Kendra a jealous look as she picked at her waffles. Kendra caught the glance and proceeded to ask, "What?"

Jin shook her head and shot Kendra a glare, "Nothing…" She looked down and put her fork down. She brushed off her skirt and shrugged, "It just must be nice to have family like that." She trailed off, and Kendra began feeling sorry for her again, and she wondered if her parents were dead.

"Are they dead?" Gavin interrupted, sitting down at the table across from Kendra.

"Gavin!" Kendra cried, slapping his arm across the table.

"One of them is." Jin said quietly, studying this newcomer at the table. Her spirits floated around him, investigating, and eventually came back to her. They vibrated a little and Jin stood up abruptly, "Demon?!"

"Relax," Bracken said as he put a gentle hand on the Ancestor-Wielder's arm, "He's an ally." Jin looked up at Bracken and flinched at seeing his utterly handsome, smiling face.

Jin sat back down quickly and with her face twisted up in unease she turned to Kendra, "How many boyfriends do you have?!"

Kendra spat out her orange juice into her glass and Gavin began choking on a piece of waffle. Bracken merely went to pound Gavin on the back in a less-than-friendly manner and sat down next to the dragon and began making polite conversation as the rest were recovering.

"You grew up quite sheltered, didn't you?" He said, putting waffles on his plate and smiling courteously at the Chinese girl.

Jin's unease lessened and she began talking, "I was raised far away from the city and my only companions were my ancestors and my parents, later when I left home I grew more accustomed to people."

"Your English is perfect; did you begin learning when you were very young?" Bracken asked politely, Jin blushed a little and Kendra, watching this exchange, groaned inwardly.

"My father was American, he spoke English and Chinese, so I learned both." Jin seemed to be relaxing and Bracken seemed to be the cause. Jin tilted her head to the side and squinted at Bracken, "Are you human?" She asked, perfectly innocent.

Bracken grinned and held up three fingers, "You have three guesses as to what I am; go!"

Jin clapped her hands and her eyes twinkled, "Wind Spirit!" She guessed.

"Wrong," Bracken stated, "try again."

"Okay… Human!"

"Wrong again."

Jin looked to her spirits for help, but they just flew around in lazy circles and bumped into things. She turned to Kendra for aid, who just sat back and smiled, Jin then happened to see Gavin miming something out of the corner of her eye.

Her eyes lit up once more and she determinedly pointed at Bracken and declared, "A narwhal!"

This time they all gagged at the unexpected remark and laughed,

"Why would you guess that?!" Kendra gasped once she was able to get her breath back.

Bracken looked accusingly at Gavin and the Dragon just kept laughing, "What? I was trying to give her a hint!"

Kendra turned to Jin and said, "He's a unicorn."

"Really?" Jin was clearly amazed, "Can you turn into your other form?"

Bracken looked uncomfortable as he said, "Maybe some other time."

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation; Kendra got up and answered the door and the two Satyrs came tumbling through the door.

"We heard from Hugo Seth was kidnapped again." Doren said, sounding worried.

"Doren, this is obviously a prank because it's an unlikely repetition of bad luck," He slung his arm over his friend's shoulder and said, "And our Seth is way too awesome to ever be kidnapped a _second time_."

Kendra sighed and said, "Look, if you don't believe me then get out; we have work to do."

"Fine, leave us out! It's not like we charged with you into certain death at Zzyx…" Newel whined.

"Newel!" Doren fussed, and then turned to Kendra, "Do you need any help?"

Kendra was about to dismiss them but she remembered all the equipment Seth had brought along on most of his adventures, he had to have gotten it from the Satyrs.

"Actually there is," She handed a piece of paper to Doren, "If you find, or know where to find, a metal ring that looks like this, tell me."

Newel peeked over Doren's shoulder and looked at the drawing, "Yeah, we know where to find one of those."

"Really?" Gavin said, "Are you sure? There are only thirteen in existence."

"Of course we're sure!" Newel bleated, "We hang our hammock from it."

Gavin slapped his hand to his face in exasperation, "A powerful gateway to another world and you guys use it a hammock?"

"Is that what it is?" Doren asked. "By all means, we'll give it to you!"

"Not so fast," Newel caught his friend's shoulder and turned to Kendra, "How much exactly is this thing worth?"

"Maybe Seth's freedom," Kendra said.

Newel seemed humbled for a second, then he started trotting backwards, "Fine, We'll bring the ring, but if this is a joke we'll make you sorry and get you back even better!"

They all watched the Satyrs gamble off through the woods to go retrieve the very thing they might have been looking for.

Kendra smiled, relived for the first time in a while, "Maybe this is our lucky break, Jin is here to help, the ring is close by; maybe we have a chance!"

No one noticed as she said those words, Bracken's eyes darted up to the attic room.


End file.
